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Ir-hnlo % ICihj'a timtage of grarr%
Jftfi tmatautri fairneaa rtamg from tlje ground;
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uHjy simwb life uiitl| myattr br-atrtij rroumeft!
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Improvement Era
Vol. XVI MARCH, 1913 No. 5
The Prince of Peace
BY WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN
[This address, a classic which we hope every reader of the Era will
carefully consider, has been delivered by the distinguished author before
many religious gatherings in the United States, and in Tokyo, Manila,
Bombay, Cairo, Jerusalem, Montreal, Toronto, and other places. — The
Editors.]
I offer no apology for speaking upon a religious theme, for it
is the most universal of all themes. If I addressed you upon the
subject of law I might interest the lawyers ; if I discussed the
science of medicine I might interest the physicians ; in like manner
merchants might be interested in a talk on commerce, and farmers
in a discussion on agriculture; but none of these subjects appeals
to all. Even the science of government, though broader than
any profession or occupation, does not embrace the whole sum of
life, and those who think upon it differ so among themselves that
I could not speak upon the subject so as to please a part without
offending others. While to me the science of government is in-
tensely absorbing, I recognize that the most important things in
life lie outside of the realm of government and that more depends
upon what the individual does for himself than upon what the
government does or can do for him. Men can be miserable under
the best government and they can be happy under the worst gov-
ernment.
Government affects but a part of the life which we live here
and does not touch at all the life beyond, while religion touches
the infinite circle of existence as well as the small arc of that circle
which we spend on earth. No greater theme, therefore, can en-
gage our attention.
Man is a religious being; the heart instinctively seeks for a
God. Whether he worships on the banks of the Ganges, prays
with his face upturned to the sun, kneels toward Mecca or, re-
406 IMPROVEMENT ERA
garding all space as a temple, communes with the Heavenly
Father according to the Christian creed, man is essentially devout.
There are honest doubters whose sincerity we recognize and
respect, but occasionally I find young men who think it smart to
be skeptical ; they talk as if it were an evidence of larger intelli-
gence to scoff at creeds and refuse to connect themselves with
churches. They call themselves "liberal," as if a Christian were
narrow minded. To these young men I desire to address myself.
Even some older people profess to regard religion as a super-
stition, pardonable in the ignorant, but unworthy of the educated
— a mental state which one can and should outgrow. Those who
hold this view look down with mild contempt upon such as give to
religion a definite place in their thoughts and lives. They assume
an intellectual superiority and often take little pains to conceal the
assumption. Tolstoy administers to the "cultured crowd" (the
words quoted are his) a severe rebuke when he declares that the
religious sentiment rests not upon a superstitious fear of the in-
visible forces of nature, but upon man's consciousness of his finite-
ness amid an infinite universe and of his sinfulness ; and this con-
sciousness, the great philosopher adds, man can never outgrow.
Tolstoy is right ; man recognizes how limited are his own powers
and how vast is the universe, and he leans upon the arm that is
stronger than his. Man feels the weight of his sins and looks
for One who is sinless.
Religion has been defined as the relation which man fixes be-
tween himself and his God, and morality as the outward manifes-
tation of this relation. Every one, by the time he reaches ma-
turity, has fixed some relation between himself and God, and no
material change in this relation can take place without a revolu-
tion in the man, for this relation is the most potent influence that
acts upon a human life,
Religion is the basis of morality in the individual and in the
group of individuals. Materialists have attempted to build up a
system of morality upon the basis of enlightened self-interest.
They would have man figure out by mathematics that it pays him
to abstain from wrong doing; they would even inject an element
of selfishness into altruism, but the moral system elaborated by
the materialists has several defects. First, its virtues are bor-
rowed from moral systems based upon religion ; second, as it rests
upon argument rather than upon authority, it does not appeal to
the young, and by the time the young are able to follow their rea-
son they have already betome set in their ways. Our laws do not
permit a young man to dispose of real estate until he is twenty-
one. Why this restraint? Because his reason is not mature ; and
yet a man's life is largely molded by the environment of his youth.
Third, one never knows just how much of his decision is due to
reason and how much is due to passion or to selfish interest. We
THE PRINCE OF PEACE 407
recognize the bias of self-interest when we exclude from the jury
every man, no matter how reasonable or upright he may be, who
has a pecuniary interest in the result of the trial. And, fourth,
one whose morality is based upon a nice calculation of benefits to
be secured spends time figuring that he should spend in action.
Those who keep a book account of their good deeds seldom do
enough good to justify keeping books.
Morality is the power of endurance in man ; and a religion
which teaches personal responsibility to God gives strength to
morality. There is a powerful restraining influence in the belief
that an all-seeing eye scrutinizes every thought and word and act
of the individual.
There is a wide difference between the man who is trying to
conform to a standard of morality about him and the man who is
endeavoring to make his life approximate to a divine standard.
The former attempts to live up to the standard if it is above him
and down to it if it is below him — and if he is doing right only
when others are looking he is sure to find a time when he thinks
he is unobserved, and then he takes a vacation and falls. One
needs the inner strength which comes with the conscious presence
oi a personal God. If those who are thus fortified sometimes
yield to temptation, how helpless and hopeless must those be who
rely upon their own strength alone !
There are difficulties to be encountered in religion, but there
are difficulties to be encountered everywhere. I passed through a
period of skepticism when I was in college and I have been glad
ever since that I became a member of the church before I left
home for college, for it helped me during those trying days. The
college days cover the dangerous period in the young man's life ;
it is when he is just coming into possession of his powers — when
he feels stronger than he ever feels afterward and thinks he knows
more than he ever does know.
It was at this period that I was confused by the different
theories of creation. But I examined these theories and found
that they all assumed something to begin with. The nebular
hypothesis, for instance, assumes that matter and force existed —
matter in particles infinitely fine and each particle separated from
every other particle by space infinitely great. Beginning with
this assumption, force working on matter — according to this
hypothesis — creates a universe. Well, I have a right to assume,
and I prefer to assume a Designer back of the design — a Creator
back of creation ; and no matter how long you draw out the
process of creation, so long as God stands back of it, you cannot
shake my faith in Jehovah. In Genesis it is written that, in the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and I can stand
onthat proposition until I find some theory of creation that goes
farther back than "the beginning."
408 IMPROVEMENT ERA
I do not carry the doctrine of evolution as far as some do; I
have not yet been able to convince myself that man is a lineal
descendant of the lower animals. I do not mean to find fault
with you if you want to accept it; all I mean to say is that while
you may trace your ancestry back to the monkey if you find pleas-
ure or pride in doing so, you shall not connect me with your
family tree without more evidence than has yet been produced. It
is true that man, in some physical qualities, resembles the beast,
but man has a mind as well as a body and a soul as well as a mind.
The mind is greater than the body and the soul is greater than the
mind, and I object to having man's pedigree traced on one-third
of him only — and that the lowest third. Fairbairn lays down a
sound proposition when he says that it is not sufficient to explain
man as an animal ; it is necessary to explain man in history — and
the Darwinian theory does not do this. The ape, according to
this story, is older than man, and yet he is still an ape, while man
is the author of the marvelous civilization which we see about us.
One does not escape from mystery, however, by accepting this
theory, for it does not explain the origin of life. When the fol-
lower of Darwin has traced the germ of life back to the lowest
form in which it appears — and to follow him one must exercise
more faith than religion calls for — he finds that scientists differ.
Some believe that the first germ of life came from another planet
and others hold that it was the result of spontaneous generation.
If I were compelled to accept one of these theories I would
prefer the first, for if we can chase the germ of life off this planet
and get it out into space we can guess the rest of the way and no
one can contradict us, but if we accept the doctrine of spontane-
ous generation we cannot explain why spontaneous generation
ceased to act after the first germ was created.
Go back as far as we may, we cannot escape from the creative
act, and it is just as easy for me to believe that God created man
as he is as to believe that, millions of years ago, he created a
germ of life and endowed it with power to develop into all that
we see today. But I object to the Darwinian theory until more
conclusive proof is produced, because I fear we shall lose the con-
sciousness of God's presence in our daily life, if we must assume
that through all the ages no spiritual force has touched the life of
man or shaped the destiny of nations. But there is another objec-
tion. The Darwinian theory represents man as reaching his pres-
ent perfection by the operation of the law of hate — the merciless
law by which the strong crowd out and kill off the weak. If this
is the law of our development, then, if there is any logic that can
bind the human mind, we shall turn backward toward the beast
in proportion as we substitute the law of love. How can hatred
be the law of development when nations have advanced in pro-
THE PRINCE OF PEACE 409
portion as they have departed from that law and adopted the law
of love?
But while I do not accept the Darwinian theory, I shall not
quarrel with you about it ; I only refer to it to remind you that
it does not solve the mystery of life or explain human progress.
I fear that some have accepted it in the hope of escaping from the
miracle, but why should the miracle frighten us ? It bothered me
once, and I am inclined to think that it is one of the test questions
with the Christian.
Christ cannot be separated from the miraculous ; his birth, his
ministrations and his resurrection, all involve the miraculous, and
the change which his religion works in the human heart is a con-
tinuing miracle. Eliminate the miracles and Christ becomes
merely a human being, and his gospel is stripped of divine au-
thority.
The miracle raises two questions : "Can God perform a mir-
acle ?" and, "Would he want to ?" The first is easy to answer. A
God who can make a world can do anything he wants to do with
it. The power to perform miracles is necessarily implied in the
power to create. But would God want to perform a miracle? —
this is the question which has given most of the trouble. The
more I have considered it the less inclined I am to answer in the
negative. To say that God would not perform a miracle is to as-
sume a more intimate knowledge of God's plans and purposes
than I can claim to have. I will not deny that God does perform a
miracle or may perform one merely because I do not know how
or why he does it. The fact that we are constantly learning of
the existence of new forces suggests the possibility that God may
operate through forces yet unknown to us, and the mysteries with
which we deal every day warn me that faith is as necessary as
sight. Who would have credited a century ago the stories that
are now told of the wonder working electricity? For ages man
had known the lightning, but only to fear it ; now this invisible
current is generated by a man-made machine, imprisoned in a
man-made wire and made to do the bidding of man. We are even
able to dispense with the wire and hurl words through space, and
the X-ray has enabled us to look through substances which were
supposed, until recently, to exclude all light. The miracle is not
more mysterious than many of the things with which man now
deals — it is simply different. The immaculate conception is not
more mysterious than any other conception — it is simply unlike ;
nor is the resurrection of Christ more mysterious than the myriad
resurrections which mark each annual seed-time.
It is sometimes said that God could not suspend one of his
laws without stopping the universe, but do we not suspend or
overcome the law of gravitation every day ? Every time we move
a foot or lift a weight, we temporarily interfere with the opera-
410 IMPROVEMENT ERA
tion of the most universal of natural laws, and yet the world is
not disturbed.
Science has taught us so many things that we are tempted to
conclude that we know everything, but there is really a great
unknown which is still unexplored, and that which we have learned
ought to increase our reverence rather than our egotism. Science
has disclosed some of the machinery of the universe, but science
has not yet revealed to us the great secret — the secret of life. It
is to be found in every blade of grass, in every insect, in every
bird and in every animal, as well as in man. Six thousand years
of recorded history and yet we know no more about the secret of
life than they knew in the beginning. We live, we plan ; we have
our hopes, our fears ; and yet in a moment a change may come
over any one of us and this body will become a mass of lifeless
clay. What is it that, having, we live and, having not, we are as
the clod ? We know not, and yet the progress of the race and the
civilization which we now behold are the work of men and women
who have not solved the mystery of their own lives.
And our food, must we understand it before we eat it? If
we refused to eat anything until we could understand the mystery
of its growth, we would die of starvation. But mystery does not
bother us in the dining room ; it is only in the church that it is
an obstacle.
I was eating a piece of watermelon some months ago and was
struck with its beauty. I took some of the seed and dried them
and weighed them, and found that it would require some five
thousand seed to weigh a pound. And then I applied mathe-
matics to that forty-pound melon. One of these seeds, put into
the ground, when warmed by the sun and moistened by the rain,
goes to work ; it gathers from somewhere two hundred thousand
times its own weight and, forcing this raw material through a tiny
stem, constructs a watermelon. It covers the outside with a coat-
ing of green ; inside of the green it puts a layer of white, and
within the white a core of red, and all through the red it scatters
seeds, each one capable of continuing the work of reproduction.
Where did that little seed get its tremendous power? Where
did it find its coloring matter? How did it collect its flavoring
extract ? How did it build a watermelon ? Until you can explain
a watermelon, do not be too sure that you can set limits to the
power of the Almighty or say just what he would do or how he
would do it. I cannot explain the watermelon, but I eat it and
enjoy it.
Everything that grows tells a like story of infinite power.
Why should I deny that a divine hand fed a multitude with a few
loaves and fishes when I see hundreds of millions fed every year
by a hand which converts the seeds scattered over the field into an
abundant harvest? We know that food can be multiplied in a
THE PRINCE OF PEACE 411
few months' time; shall we deny the power of the Creator to
eliminate the element of time, when we have gone so far in elim-
inating the element of space ?
But there is something even more wonderful still — the mys-
terious change that takes place in the human heart when the man
begins to hate the things he loved and to love the things he hated
— the marvelous transformation that takes place in the man who,
before the change, would have sacrificed the world for his own
advancement but who, after the change, would give his life for a
principle and esteem it a privilege to make sacrifice for his con-
victions. What greater miracle than this, that converts a selfish,
self-centered human being into a center from which good
influences flow out in every direction ! And yet this miracle has
been wrought in the heart of each one of us — or may be wrought
— and we have seen it wrought in the hearts of those about us.
No, living in the midst of mystery and miracles, I shall not allow
either to deprive me of the benefits of the Christian religion.
Some of those who question the miracle also question the
theory of atonement ; they assert that it does not accord with their
idea of justice for one to die for others. Let each one bear his
own sins and the punishments due for them, they say. The doc-
trine of vicarious suffering is not a new one ; it is as old as the
race. That one should suffer for others is one of the most fa-
miliar principles and we see the principle illustrated every day of
our lives. Take the family, for instance ; from the day the mother's
first child is born, for twenty- five or thirty years they are scarcely
out of her waking thoughts. She sacrifices for them, she sur-
renders herself to them. Is it because she expects them to pay
her back? Fortunate for the parent and fortunate for the child
if the latter has an opportunity to repay in part the debt it owes.
But no child can compensate a parent for a parent's care. In the
course of nature the debt is paid, not to the parent, but to the
next generation, each generation suffering and sacrificing for the
one following.
Nor is this confined to the family. Every step in advance has
been made possible by those who have been willing to sacrifice
for posterity. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom
of conscience and free government have all been won for the
world bv those who were willing to make sacrifices for their fel-
lows. So well established is this doctrine that we do not regard
any one as great unless he recognizes how unimportant his life
is in comparison with the problems with which he deals.
I find proof that man was made in the image of his Creator
in the fact that, throughout the centuries, man has been willing
to die that blessings denied to him might be enjoyed by his chil-
dren, his children's children and the world.
The seeming paradox : "He that saveth his life shall lose it.
412 IMPROVEMENT ERA
and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it," has an appli-
cation wider than that usually given to it ; it is an epitome of his-
tory. Those who live only for themselves live little lives, but
those who give themselves for the advancement of things greater
than themselves find a larger life than the one surrendered. Wen-
dell Phillips gave expression to the same idea when he said : "How
prudently most men sink into nameless graves, while now and
then a few forget themselves into immortality."
Instead of being an unnatural plan, the plan of salvation is
in perfect harmony with human nature as we understand it. Sac-
rifice is the language of love, and Christ, in suffering for the
world, adopted the only means of reaching the heart, and this can
be demonstrated not only by theory, but by experience, for the
story of his life, his teachings, his sufferings and his death has
been translated into every language and everywhere it has touched
the heart.
But if I were going to present an argument in favor of the
divinity of Christ, I would not begin with miracles or mystery or
theory of atonement. I would begin as Carnegie Simpson begins
in his book entitled, The Fact of Christ. Commencing with the
fact that Christ lived, he points out that one cannot contemplate
this undisputed fact without feeling that in some way this fact
is related to those now living. He says that one can read of Alex-
ander, of Caesar or of Napoleon, and not feel that it is a matter
of personal concern ; but that when one reads that Christ lived
and how he died he feels that somehow there is a chord that
stretches from that life to his. As he studies the character of
Christ he becomes conscious of certain virtues which stand out in
bold relief — purity, humility, a forgiving spirit and an unfathom-
able love. The author is correct. Christ presents an example of
purity in thought and life, and man, conscious of his own im-
perfections and grieved over his shortcomings, finds inspiration
in One who was tempted in all points like as we are, and yet with-
out sin. I am not sure but that we can find just here a way of
determining whether one possesses the true spirit of a Christian.
If he finds in the sinlessness of Christ an inspiration and a stimulus
to greater effort and higher living, he is indeed a follower ; if, on
the other hand, he resents the reproof which the purity of Christ
offers, he is likely to question the divinity of Christ in order to
excuse himself for not being a follower.
Humility is a rare virtue. If one is rich he is apt to be proud
of his riches : if he has distinguished ancestry, he is apt to be
proud of his lineage ; if he is well educated, he is apt to be proud
of his learning. Some one has suggested that if one becomes
humble he soon becomes proud of his humility. Christ, however,
possessed of all power, was the very personification of humility.
The most difficult of all the virtues to cultivate is the for-
THE PRINCE OF PEACE 413
giving spirit. Revenge seems to be natural to the human heart ;
to want to get even with an enemy is a common sin. It has even
been popular to boast of vindictiveness ; it was once inscribed on a
monument to a hero that he had repaid both friends and enemies
more than he had received. This was not the spirit of Christ. He
taught forgiveness and in that incomparable prayer which he left
as a model for our petitions he made our willingness to forgive
the measure by which we may claim forgiveness. He not only
taught forgiveness, but he exemplified his teachings in his life.
When those who persecuted him brought him to the most dis-
graceful of all deaths, his spirit of forgiveness rose above his
sufferings and he prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do !"
But love is the foundation of Christ's creed. The world had
known love before ; parents had loved children and children, par-
ents ; husband had loved wife and wife, husband ; and friend had
loved friend ; but Jesus gave a new definition of love. His love
was as boundless as the sea ; its limits were so far-flung that even
an enemy could not travel beyond it. Other teachers sought to
regulate the lives of their followers by rule and formula, but
Christ's plan was, first to purify the heart and then to leave love
to direct the footsteps.
What conclusion is to be drawn from the life, the teachings
and the death of the historic figure? Reared in a carpenter's
shop ; with no knowledge of literature, save Bible literature ; with
no acquaintance with philosophers living or with the writings
of sages dead, this young man gathered disciples about him, pro-
mulgated a higher code of morals than the world had ever known
before, and proclaimed himself the Messiah. He taught and
performed miracles for a few brief months and then was cru-
cified ; his dsiciples were scattered and many of them put to death ;
his claims were disputed, his resurrection denied and his fol-
lowers persecuted, and yet from this beginning his religion has
spread until millions take his name with reverence upon their lips
and thousands have been wliling to die rather than surrender the
faith which he put into their hearts. How shall we account for
him? "What think ye of Christ?" It is easier to believe him
divine than to explain in any other way what he said and did and
was. And I have greater faith even than before since I have
visited the Orient and witnessed the successful contest which
Christianity is waging against the religions and philosophies
of the East.
I was thinking a few years ago of the Christmas which was
then approaching and of him in whose honor the day is cele-
brated. I recalled the message, peace on earth, good will to men,
and then my thoughts ran back to the prophecy uttered centuries
before his birth, in which he was described as the Prince of Peace.
414 IMPROVEMENT ERA
To reinforce my memory I re-read the prophecy and found im-
mediately following a verse which I had forgotten — a verse which
declares that of the increase of his peace and government there
shall be no end, for, adds Isaiah, "He shall judge his people with
justice and with judgment." Thinking of the prophecy, I have
selected this theme that I may present some of the reaons which
lead me to believe that Christ has fully earned the title, the Prince
of Peace, and that in the years to come it will be more and more
applied to him. Faith in him brings peace to the heart, and his
teachings, when applied, will bring peace between man and man.
And if he can bring peace to each heart, and if his creed will
bring peace throughout the earth, who will deny his right to be
called the Prince of Peace?
All the world is in search of peace ; every heart that ever
beat has sought for peace, and many have been the methods em-
ployed to secure it. Some have thought to purchase it with riches
and they have labored to secure wealth, hoping to find peace when
they were able to go where they pleased and buy what they liked.
Of those who have endeavored to purchase peace with money,
the large majority have failed to secure the money. But what
has been the experience of those who have been successful in ac-
cumulating money? They all tell the same story — viz., that they
spent the first half of their lives trying to get money from others
and the last half trying to keep others from getting their money,
and that they found peace in neither half. Some have even
reached the point where they find difficulty in getting people to
accept their money ; and I know of no better indication of the
ethical awakening in this country than the increasing tendency to
scrutinize the methods of money making. A long step in advance
will have been taken when religious, educational and charitable
institutions refuse to condone immoral methods in business and
leave the possessor of ill-gotten gains to learn the loneliness of
life when one prefers money to morals.
Some have sought peace in social distinction, but whether
they have been within the charmed circle and fearful lest they
might fall out, or outside and hopeful that they might get in, they
have not found peace.
Some have thought — vain thought — to find peace in political
prominence ; but whether office comes by birth, as in monarchies,
or by election, as in republics, it does not bring peace. An office
is conspicuous only when few can occupy it. Only when few in
a generation can hope to enjoy an honor do we call it a great
honor. I am glad that our Heavenly Father did not make the
peace of the human heart depend upon the accumulation of wealth,
or upon the securing of social or political distinction, for in either
case but few could have enjoyed it, but when he made peace the
reward of a conscience void of offense toward God and man, he
THE PRINCE OF PEACE 415
put it within the reach of all. The poor can secure it as easily as
the rich, the social outcast as freely as the leader of society, and
the humblest citzen equally with those who wield political power.
To those who have grown gray in the faith I need not speak
of the peace to be found in the belief in an overruling Providence.
Christ taught that our lives are precious in the sight of God, and
poets have taken up the theme and woven it into immortal verse.
No uninspired writer has expressed the idea moVe beautifully than
William Cullen Bryant in the Ode to a Waterfowl. After follow-
ing the wanderings of the bird of passage as it seeks first its
northern and then its southern home, he concludes :
Thou art gone; the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form, but on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.
He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.
Christ promoted peace by giving us assurance that a line of
communication can be established between the Father above and
the child below. And who will measure the consolation that has
been wrought to troubled hearts by the hour of prayer?
And immortality? Who will estimate the peace which a be-
lief in a future life has brought to the sorrowing ? You may talk
to the young about death ending all, for life is full and hope is
strong, but preach not this doctrine to the mother who stands by
the death-bed of her babe or to one who is within the shadow of
a great affliction. When I was a young man I wrote to Colonel
Ingersoll and asked him for his views on God and immortality.
His secretary answered that the great infidel was not at home,
but inclosed a copy of a speech which covered my question. I
scanned it with eagerness and found that he had expressed himself
about as follows : "I do not say that there is no God, I simply say
I do not know. I do not say that there is no life beyond the grave,
I simply say I do not know." And from that day to this I have
not been able to understand how any one could find pleasure in
taking from any human heart a living faith and substituting there-
for the cold and cheerless doctrine, "I do not know."
Christ gave us proof of immortality, and yet it would hardly
seem necessary that one should rise from the dead to convince us
that the grave is not the end. To every created thing God has
given a tongue that proclaims a resurrection.
If the Father deigns to touch with divine power the cold and
pulseless heart of the buried acorn and to make it burst forth
from its prison walls, will he leave neglected in the earth the soul
416 IMPROVEMENT ERA
of man, made in the image of his Creator? If he stoops to give
to the rose bush, whose withered blossoms float upon the autu
breeze, the sweet assurance of another springtime, will he refuse
the words of hope to the sons of men when the frosts of
winter come? If matter, mute and inanimate, though changed bv
the forces of nature into a multitude of forms, can never die, will
the spirit of man suffer annihilation when it has paid a brief visit
like a royal guest to this tenement of clay ? No, I am as sure that
there *is another life as I am that I live today!
In Cairo I secured a few grains of wheat that had slum-
bered for more than three thousand years in an Egyptian tomb.
As I looked at them this thought came into my mind : If one of
those grains had been planted on the banks of the Nile the year
after it grew, and all its lineal descendants planted and replanted
from that time until now, its progeny would today be sufficiently
numerous to feed the teeming millions of the world. There is in
the grain of wheat an invisible something which has power to
discard the body that we see, and from earth and air fashion a
new body so much like the old one that we cannot tell the one
from the other. If this invisible germ of life in the grain of wheat
can thus pass unimpaired through three thousand resurrections,
I shall not doubt that my soul has power to clothe itself with a
body suited to its new existence when this earthly frame has
crumbled into dust.
A belief in immortality not only consoles the individual, but it
exerts a powerful influence in bringing peace between individuals.
If one really thinks that man dies as the brute dies, he may yield
to the temptation to do injustice to his neighbor when the circum-
stances are such as to promise security from detection. But if
one really expects to- meet again and live eternally with those
whom he knows today, he is restrained from evil deeds by the fear
of endless remorse. We do not know what rewards are in store
for us or what punishments may be reserved, but if there were no
other punishment it would be enough for one who deliberately
and consciously wrongs another to have to live forever in the
company of the person wronged and have his littleness and self-
ishness laid bare. I repeat, a belief in immortality must exert a
powerful influence in establishing justice between men, and thus
laying the foundation for peace.
Again, Christ deserves to be called the Prince of Peace be-
cause he has given us a measure of greatness which promotes
peace. When his disciples disputed among themselves as to which
should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he rebuked them
and said: "Let him who would be chiefest among you be the
servant of all." Service is the measure of greatness ; it always
has been true ; it is true today, and it always will be true, that
he is greatest who does the most of good. And yet, what a revo-
THE PRINCE OF PEACE 417
lution it will work in this old world when this standard becomes
the standard of life ! Nearly all of our controversies and combats
arise from the fact that we are trying to get something from each
other — there will be peace when our aim is to do something for
each other. Our enmities and animosities arise from our efforts
to get as much as possible out of the world — there will be peace
when our endeavor is to put as much as possible into the world.
Society will take an immeasurable step toward peace when it esti-
mates a citizen by his output rather than by his income, and gives
the crown of its approval to the one who makes the largest con-
tribution to the welfare of all. It is the glory of the Christian
ideal that, while it is within sight of the weakest and the lowliest,
it is yet so high that the best and the noblest are kept with their
faces turned ever upward.
Christ has also led the way to peace by giving us a formula
for the propagation of good. Not all of those who have really
desired to do good have employed the Christian method — not all
Christians even. In all the history of the human race but two
methods have been employed. The first is the forcible method.
A man has an idea which he thinks is good ; he tells his neighbors
about it and they do not like it. This makes him angry, and,
seizing a club, he attempts to make them like it. One trouble
about this rule is that it works both ways ; when a man starts out
to compel his neighbors to think as he does, he generally finds
them willing to accept the challenge and they spend so much time
in trying to coerce each other that they have no time left to be of
service to each other.
The other is the Bible plan — be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good. And there is no other way of over-
coming evil. I am not much of a farmer — I get more credit for
my farming than I deserve, and my little farm receives more ad-
vertising than it is entitled to. But I am farmer enough to know
that if I cut down weeds they will spring up again, and I know
that if I plant something there which has more vitality than the
weeds I shall not only get rid of the constant cutting, but have
the benefit of the crop besides.
In order that there might be no mistake about his plan of
propagating good, Christ went into detail and laid emphasis upon
the value of example — "so live that others seeing your good works
may be constrained to glorify your Father which is in heaven."
There is no human influence so potent for good as that which goes
out from an upright life. A sermon may be answered ; the argu-
ments presented in a speech may be disputed, but no one can
answer a Christian life — it is the unanswerable argument in favor
of our religion.
It may be a slow process — this conversion of the world by the
silent influence of a noble example, but it is the only sure one, and
418 IMPROVEMENT ERA
the doctrine applies to nations as well as to individuals. The Gos-
pel of the Prince of Peace gives us the only hope that the world
has — and it is an increasing hope — of the substitution of reason for
the arbitrament of force in the settlement of international disputes.
But Christ has given us a platform more fundamental than
any political party has ever written. We are interested in plat-
forms ; we attend conventions, sometimes traveling long dis-
tances ; we have wordy wars over the phraseology of various
planks, and then we wage earnest campaigns to secure the in-
dorsement of these platforms at the polls. But the platform
given to the world by the Nazarene is more far-reaching and
more comprehensive than any platform ever written by the con-
vention of any party in any country. When He condensed into
one commandment those of the ten which relate to man's duty to-
ward his fellows and enjoined upon us the rule, "Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself," he presented a plan for the solution of
all the problems that now vex society or may hereafter arise.
Other remedies may palliate or postpone the day of settlement,
but this is all-sufficient and the reconciliation which it effects is
a permanent one.
If I were to attempt to apply this thought to various ques-
tions which are at issue, I might be accused of entering the do-
main of partisan politics, but I may safely apply it to two great
problems. First, let us consider the question of capital and labor.
This is not a transient issue or a local one. It engages the atten-
tion of the people of all countries and has appeared in every age.
The immediate need in this country is arbitration, for neither side
to the controversy can be trusted to deal with absolute justice, if
allowed undisputed control ; but arbitration, like a court, is a last
resort. It would be better if the relations between employer and
employe were such as to make arbitration unnecessary. Just in
proportion as men recognize their kinship to each other and deal
with each other in the spirit of brotherhood will friendship and
harmony be secured. Both employer and employe need to culti-
vate the spirit which follows from obedience to the great com-
mandment.
The second problem to which I would apply this platform of
peace is that which relates to the accumulation of wealth. We
cannot much longer delay consideration of the ethics of money-
making. That many of the enormous fortunes which have been
accumulated in the last quarter of a century are now held by men
who have given to society no adequate service in return for the
money secured is now generally recognized. While legislation can
and should protect the public from predatory wealth, a more
effective remedy will be found in the cultivation of public opinion
which will substitue a higher ideal than the one which tolerates
the enjoyment of unearned gains. No man who really knows what
THE PRINCE OF PEACE 419
brotherly love is will desire to take advantage of his neighbor, and
the conscience when not seared Will admonish against injustice.
My faith in the future rests upon the belief that Christ's teachings
are being more studied today than ever before, and that with this
larger study will come an application of those teachings to the
everyday life of the world. In former times men read that Christ
came to bring life and immortality to light and placed the em-
phasis upon immortality; now they are studying Christ's relation
to human life. In former years many thought to prepare them-
selves for future bliss by a life of seclusion here ; now they are
learning that they cannot follow in the footsteps of the Master
unless they go about doing good. Christ declared that He came
that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The world is
learning that Christ came not to narrow life, but to enlarge it — to
fill it with purpose, earnestness and happiness.
But this Prince of Peace promises not only peace, but
strength. Some have thought His teachings fit only for the weak
and the timid and unsuited to men of vigor, energy and ambi-
tion. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Only the man
of faith can be courageous. Confident that he fights on the side
of Jehovah, he doubts not the success of his cause. What matters
it whether he shares in the shouts of triumph? If every word
spoken in behalf of truth has its influence, and every deed done
for the right weighs in the final account, it is immaterial to the
Christian whether his eyes behold victory or whether he dies in the
midst of conflict.
"Yea, though thou lie upon the dust,
When they who helped thee flee in fear,
Die full of hope and manly trust,
Like those who fell in battle here.
"Another hand thy sword shall wield,
Another hand the standard wave,
Till from the trumpet's mouth is pealed
The blast of triumph o'er thy grave."
Only those who believe attempt the seemingly impossible,
and, by attempting, prove that one with God can chase a thou-
sand and two can put ten thousand to flight. I can imagine that
the early Christians who were carried into the arena to make a
spectacle for those more savage than the beasts, were entreated by
their doubting companions not to endanger their lives. But, kneel-
ing in the center of the arena, they prayed and sang until they
were devoured. How helpless they seemed and, measured by
every human rule, how hopeless was their cause ! And yet with-
in a few decades the power which they invoked proved mightier
than the legions of the emperor, and the faith in which they died
was triumphant o'er all that land. It is said that those who went
420 IMPROVEMENT ERA
to mock at their sufferings returned asking themselves, "What
is it that can enter into the heart of man and make him die as
these die?" They were greater conquerors in their death than
they could have been had they purchased life by a surrender of
their faith.
What would have been the fate of the church if the early
Christians had had as little faith as many of our Christians now
have ? And, on the other hand, if the Christians of today had the
faith of the martyrs, how long would it be before the fulfilment
of the prophecy that every knee shall bow and every tongue con-
fess?
Our faith should be even stronger than the faith of those who
lived two thousand years ago, for we see our religion spreading
and supplanting the philosophies and creeds of the Orient.
As the Christian grows older he appreciates more and more
the completeness with which Christ fills the requirements of the
heart and, grateful for the peace which he enjoys and for the
strength which he has received, he repeats the words of the great
scholar, Sir William Jones :
"Before thy mystic altar, heavenly truth,
I kneel in manhood, as I knelt in youth,
Thus let me kneel, till this dull form decay,
And life's last shade be brightened by thy ray."
A Hymn of Action
(Selected)
(These lines were written many years ago)
"Not in dumb resignation, we lift our hands on high;
Not like the nerveless fatalist, content to do and die.
Our faith springs like the eagle, who soars to meet the sun,
And cries exulting unto Thee, 'O Lord, Thy will be done.'
"When tyrant feet are trampling upon the common weal
Thou dost not bid us bend and writhe beneath the iron heel, •
In Thy name we assert our right by sword or tongue or pen,
And even the headman's ax may flash Thy message unto men.
"Thy will! It bids the weak be strong; it bids the strong be just;
No lips to fawn, no hand to beg, no brow to seek the dust,
Whenever man oppresses men beneath the liberal sun,
O Lord, be there: Thine arm make bare; Thy righteous will be done.
John Hay.
Under the Sea Level in Holland
BY W. F. THOMPSON
As is well known, this country has been reclaimed from the
sea ; the large rivers of Europe have carried down sediment which
has formed a large delta, level with the ocean, and in many places
far below. I asked an old gentleman in Groningen, "How far
above the sea-level is the city of Groningen?" and he replied,
"About sixty feet below, at high tide."
Piece by piece it has been sur-
rounded by dykes, and the water, be-
ing pumped out, has left a small, beau-
tiful, fertile piece of land, now very
productive. On a pleasant summer
day, the landscape is very beautiful ;
everything is nice, trim, and so clean
and neat ! In the large cities they have
lovely dwelling houses, the streets in
front being beautiful with grass plots
THE DOG-CART
A COUNTRY ROAD
containing flower beds, in the
center. On leaving the city,
we travel along the country
road, far into the farm dis-
trict. The road we travel over
is paved with brick. Along-
each side we see a place for
bicycles. On these brick roads
we can travel miles upon miles
from one large city to another
without getting off the bricks.
This makes it very comfort-
able for auto-riding. On
either side of the road there
is a large canal or drain ditch.
These ditches are used to
drain the pretty little farms
which are likewise surround-
ed with ditches which are also
used in place of fences.
The farms are well cared
for, nicely planted with differ-
ent sorts of market vegetables. A horse is very costly in this
country, so we see the farmer sitting on a heavily-loaded cart
THE FAMILY BOAT
422
IMPROVEMENT ERA
ONE OF HOLLAND S GIANT
WIND MILLS
while two or three dogs pull it along. The dog is therefore a
very useful animal to his mas-
ter.
Here we come to a large
canal. Canals are about as nu-
merous here as water-ditches
are in Idaho. Traveling along
its banks we notice that the
water is almost as thickly
populated as the waterways of
China. As we pass the boats,
we see that nearly every boat
has a family upon it, and our
guide tells us that thousands
of people are born, reared,
and die, on these boats. Babies
born upon these boats stay
there till they are old enough
to make a living for them-
selves. We frequently see
children trotting up and down
the roof of a boat within six
inches of the edges, and on
many we see a little one tied to the mast with a rope, to keep it
from falling into the water.
Here comes a big boat now. The woman is cooking supper.
On the boat just back of it we see a woman hanging out the wash.
It is a great help to the boatman to have the wind blow in his
favor when he has to travel,
or otherwise he or his wife or
children would have to pull
the boat along. Here comes
another. It is very heavily
loaded. The mother and the
daughter are at the end of a
long rope, pulling with all
their strength, and the father
is on the boat with a long pole
which he thrusts to the bot-
tom of the canal and pushes.
The baby, a little boy of about
four or five years of age, is steering at the rudder.
We are surprised to see, almost within stone's throw, one of
those giant windmills by the side of the canal. Everybody has
heard of the large windmills of this country, which are very help-
ful to the people. This one is used for pumping the water off
the land into the larsre canal which carries it to the ocean.
THE MARKET
UNDER THE SEA LEVEL IN HOLLAND
423
Further along we see one used for sawing lumber, and still an-
other is a flour mill. Along some of the canals there are hun-
dreds of them. They dot the farms everywhere ; but we notice
that most of them are built on the outskirts of the large cities.
They give a great charm to the landscape. Most of them are
very old. It must have cost many thousands of dollars to build
one. Their day, however, is rapidly passing and there are not
many now being built. Steam is taking the place of the wind,
and some day not far in the future it is possible we shall see Hol-
land without her windmills.
We arrive at the city of Amsterdam. Here the people are
dressed like the people at home. Not many wooden-shoes are
ELDERS OF THE AMSTERDAM CONFERENCE IN NATIVE COSTUMES
Left to right, back row: Hansen, Thornick, Edmonds, White; cen-
ter row: Richardson, McCullough, Noorda, Thomson, Hair, Nichols,
Wade, Ostler; front row: Davis, Taylor (conference president), Eard-
ley fmission president), Tiemersma, Thomas (secretary of the mis-
sion).
worn in the large towns. Walking along the main streets, where
most of the large stores are, we see many American styles. At
length we come to the market where all the different kinds of dry
goods, dishes of all sorts, and all knids of hardware are sold. Our
guide takes us along a clean street, on one side of which is a large
424 IMPROVEMENT ERA
canal and upon the other, an iron-paved sidewalk of which we see
a great many in this country. We come to the cattle market,
where it is very amusing to watch the people sell and buy cattle.
The owner sets his price on his stock, which the purchaser thinks
is a little too high. They slap hands with each other for a while
and then finally the sale is made. Many people make their living
at this business of buying and selling cattle.
Leaving the market, we take a boat for the islands of Marken
and Volendam. It is 10:30, the engine starts and the ship begins
to move. We sail through a large canal to the sea, go first to
Volendam and then to Marken. Here we behold the old Dutch
style of people. They are not dressed like the people in the large
cities, for they are the quaintest of all the characters of the Neth-
erlands. They remind one of the pictures of Holland one sees in
the picture galleries. The girls are clothed in large hoop-like
dresses of dark blue, and colored waists. They have lace caps
on, and wear a helmet of gold, silver, or brass with cork-screw
gold horn, about the size of small bed springs, sticking out on
each side near the eyes. It is not uncommon to see a young man,
his hair cut straight off at the back, wearing a richly-embroidered
shirt, trousers that resemble the American peg-top pants, made
of velvet, and a velvet belt with enormous silver or brass buttons
in front. Here are a lot of small children ! They are all dressed
alike. We ask our guide how they distinguish boys from girls.
He shows us a little boy who has a round mark on the back of his
hood, while the little girls haven't.
The Dutch are plain and simple in their ways. They are
sober-looking, but can laugh upon occasion, and as a rule are very
hospitable. As far as I can judge, the people are rather inclined
to be slow and plodding; they take life very seriously, as if the
physical features of the country had had their effect upon the
character of the people. It is a misty, wet land, but not without
its attractive features.
The preaching of the gospel is carried on here in about the
same way as in other fields ; walking from city to city ; selling
books, in the larger cities ; tracting from door to door, and ex-
plaining the principles of the gospel and the mission of the
Church. Owing to the religious character of the people, it is not
difficult to gain access to the people in this way. The people are
wonderfully familiar with the Bible, requiring the elders to be
well-posted on the Holy Scriptures.
I am working, at present, in Haarlem, one of the prettiest
towns in Holland, noted for its flower gardens. Hundreds* of
acres of bulb-flowers can be seen in bloom every spring. The
bulbs are shipped all over the world. Thousands of tourists from
America and Germany visit these fields every year.
I believe the Latter-day Saints have the finest company of
UNDER THE SEA 'LEVEL IN HOLLAND
425
boys in the world laboring in Holland. They are doing their best
to roll on the work of the Lord. We have at present large
branches in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Arnhem, and
Groningen, all of which are growing rapidly.
NYMEGEN, HOLLAND
STREET IN A LARGE CITY
Two Worshipers
He sang about the meadow, grove, and stream,
The sunsets and the silence of the star.
He wove weird fancies in the twilight's gleam
And soared into ideal realms afar.
He wandered in the shadow of the wood,
Exclaimed upon the vastness of the sea,
But never thought of God to call him good.
"Fair Nature's light is light enough," quoth he.
Aye friend, in very truth these things some strength reveal
Let each discerning heart clue admiration feel!
The other called each grace a gift divine,
Sought Nature in rich sympathetic mood.
He felt the slightest tremble of the vine.
He prized earth's charms his own ideal good.
In simple blessedness he sought to share
His strong rejoicings in a psalm of love;
In all things, read a meaning deep and rare
Which drew his spirit toward the Light Above.
By faith he touched high heaven, kneeling there;
He rose, and knew that God had heard his prayer.
Minnie Iverson,
honolulu, h. t.
Little Problems of Married Life/
BY WILLIAM GEORGE JORDAN
XVIII — The Incubus of Constant Faultfinding.
Job, the patriarch of sublime patience, suffered many grievous
trials and sorrows, ingeniously selected by Satan to compass his
downfall, but he was mercifully spared one supreme test — a wife
with a talent for nagging. It is true that his wife was indiscreet
on one occasion and offered him some unwise advice, but this may
have been only the impulsive outburst of her love, her loyalty, her
sympathy, her protest, and that desperation we feel when we see
some one we love suffer while knowing we are powerless to help.
But she did not fuss, and fume, and fret, and fury, and find fault
from dewy morn till darkening eve ; had she done so, samples of
her method would surely have been entered on the record.
She must have been a wonderful woman, Job's wife, and she
has never received the credit and honor she deserved. She won
no medal nor no crown in history. She never made a single per-
sonal complaint ; her one emotional explosion was for her husband,
not for herself, yet she suffered the sudden death of her seven
sons, the fortune swept away, the stealing of the cattle and the
camels, the burning of the sheepfold, the murder of the servants,
and, in fact, everything that Job suffered except — the boils and
the three friends. It was not to her, but to this nagging visiting
committee of three, that he cried out in agony of soul and right-
eous resentment and rebellion he could not restrain : "Ye break
me to pieces with words."
Constant faultfinding is an intoxication of the tongue that has
destroyed more homes than drink. It is an insidious evil, so inno-
cent in the beginning, yet it may bring every other source of un-
happiness in its trail, and two who have loved and should love
may mourn over a dead happiness slain by discord that one or the
other should have prevented by self-control. To keep the air of
the home sweet, wholesome and life-giving does not require two
angels or two saints, but just two human beings with sense enough
to realize that nagging is foolish, unnecessary, cruel, and that it —
does not pay.
In an atmosphere of constant faultfinding, real respect for
each other soon dies, every good impulse is dwarfed, every effort
discouraged, every spontaneity stifled, love is killed and, goaded
to desperation, with misunderstandings multiplied beyond the bear-
copyright, 1910, by Fleming H. Revell Company.
LITTLE PROBLEMS OF MARRIED LIFE 427
ing point, two finally become separated in everything that means
unity, though they may still present the semblance of union to
their friends and to the world.
If there be one place on earth where peace should reign that
place is — the home. It should ever be an unfailing sanctuary
from the struggle, stress and storm of the world. When condi-
tions are reversed and the world becomes a refuge from the home,
then the death of love and all possibility for happiness becomes
inevitable unless there be speedy reorganization in the home part-
nership. That home is doomed to disruption from within ; like a
nation bravely meeting foreign aggression, but having dissension
within, it will finally be broken by internal revolution.
The husband honestly and earnestly seeking to furnish the
funds for the home on as liberal a scale as he can may have a
faultfinding wife, discontented, unsympathetic, unappreciative of
his efforts, selfishly thinking only of her own desires. Nothing
that he can do ever satisfies and he may have to face at each home-
coming the eternal money discussion and argument. It dominates
the dinner-table, overflows into the evening session and rises with
new force at breakfast time, a depressing, nagging influence that
saps spirit and energy in meeting the business problems and duties
of the day. If there be a temporary lull, a brief spell of sunshine,
he feels ever a sense of apprehension like a canoeist on certain
mountain lakes who realizes that a squall may come at any mo-
ment. He enters the house with dread ; he remains in fear ; he
leaves it with relief.
There is not a subject on earth that he can venture to intro-
duce without feeling that her ingenuity will find in it some opening
for a monologue of complaint, a slur of condemnation, a mood
of censure, an irritating pose of martyrdom or some other of the
roles in her elaborate repertoire of faultfinding.
If he ventures to remark that the evening papers say there
will probably be a general war in Europe she loses sight of the
awful horror of the thought in her remark about the expense of it :
"No one can understand better than I what war must cost, when
it takes so much money to run a house." This becomes the text
for a sermon on his failure as a money-maker and his inferiority
to the man next door. The suggestion of the high flight of an air-
ship gives her the chance for a sudden transfer to "the high cost
of living."
The barbaric treatment of women among savages makes her
remark with an undertone of personal significance that would be
humorous were it not so maddingly serious : "Yet the women of
America suffer terrible things, too, and they are silent about it."
If on some other occasion after looking in every direction for
storm signals, thinking that now at least he is safe, he may hazard
the information of a new submarine that has made wonderful
428 IMPROVEMENT ERA
descents, he may suddenly be jostled from his self-complacency
as he hears the warning preface: "For years I have known what
it means to be down in the depths. I can sympathize with them."
He soon puts himself in the attitude of a careful chess-player
who mentally moves every piece on the board and studies all its
new possibilities before making the actual move. He thinks of
the radiation of every phrase before he speaks it, but even then,
some seemingly innocent sentence may hardly have passed his lips
before he hears what means "check" to his soul.
He may hear: why did he marry her? she had everything in
life at home ; her sister's husband has just put through a new deal ;
the people in the corner house have bought an automobile; she
reminds him constantly that she sacrificed so much in taking him
when there were so many other better candidates. It requires
heroic self-control for him to resist saying what he feels at this
point, but he may find it prudent not to put into her hands fresh
ammunition for future assault, when she will quote the fatal phrase
of his outburst while forgetting, or even denying in her own mind,
that she gave the slightest provocation.
When this faultfinding reaches a chronic state, though he
might have done much in the earlier stages, now it seems he can
do nothing. No matter what action it takes it proves to be the
wrong one. The cards seem stacked against him so that he must
lose. His explanations are riddled and ridiculed and mean sim-
ply new points of attack ; his tenderness may be construed as a
weak admission of the right of all she says and of the justice of
her siege ; his arguments are all mowed down by the avalanche of
her unreason ; his indignation bursting bonds may break into
angry protest that brings a cascade of tears at "this new suf-
fering."
In sad despair he may valiantly try silence, determining to
say nothing no matter what it costs him in self-control. This
gives her a free field for a little while until she suddenly becomes
conscious of the lack of return fire that seems like shelling a de-
serted city. Then she may become aggravated to say something
specially stinging to draw some spark of response from the flint
of his silence. He may at last sadly feel that absence from home
is his only resource, and accept quiet outside if he cannot peace at
home. In his desperation he may care nothing for the outcome;
he simply lets go and — drifts.
It may be the wife who suffers all this or some similar brand
of nagging from her husband. She lives in a state of terror of
his moods, grows old before her time, loses her spirit, her sweet-
ness and her interest in life. She feels as hopeless and helpless
as a leaf in the tempest of his faultfinding. Her battle with her-
self during the day to be thoughtful, kind and forgiving and to
meet the storm in the best way she can may be nullified in a few
LITTLE PROBLEMS OF MARRIED LIFE 429
moments when her good resolutions and her plans for patience
and prudence are suddenly laid low as a cyclone levels a town.
Some little thing she worked over for days for his pleasure
or comfort may be ignored, treated with contempt or even con-
demnation for wasting her time. Her powers of endurance are
killed by a sneer cruel as a blow. His grumbling at the food, at
the house, at the servants and at her may finally "get on her
nerves" so she feels she cannot keep still. She feels like an elec-
tric machine, vibrating at a tremendous velocity, and that any
moment she may fly to pieces. She, 'like Job, knows what it
means to be "broken to pieces with words." And then he may
lapse into cold, bitter sarcasm that seems to suffocate her, words
that bite like an acid into her consciousness ; they are unanswerable
in their form, cruelly, cowardly, contemptibly unjust in their spirit.
They blight everything that is best in her nature, they shrivel every
good impulse. She hates this sarcasm with an intensity of soul
she cannot express and she may soon hate — him.
He is venting his temper on her, getting the relief of the out-
burst in a degrading tyrannical way he would not dare to do at his
club or at his business with customers though he would doubtless
make helpless clerks his victims. He masters it for dollars at his
store, why does he not conquer it for peace at home? A mislaid
collar-button, that he forgets he himself lost in the morning, may
be sufficient to convert a home into an inferno in a few moments.
Such a man, too, smiling and gay with his guests, may say in
the course of a dinner a number of mean, vitriolic things in the
way of slurs and allusions, that fall innocently on unknowing ears,
but which the wife knows are aimed with deadly intent at her.
He is shooting from a masked battery, with a silencer on his gun
and with smokeless powder, but as each shot finds its mark, she
may hear herself talking automatically to the guest she is enter-
taining, hardly conscious of what she is saying, because of the
pain in her heart, and the very air of the room seems tp grow
stifling ; she is humiliated by the shame of it and she wants to get
away, somewhere, anywhere, and to be alone.
Faultfinding, when it is the atmosphere of an individual life,
is but an assertion of intense selfishness, it is seeing things only
from one's own standpoint and expressing the feeling of discon-
tent, dissatisfaction or protest that things are not goinsr as we
wish, that the universe is not run on our schedule. Faultfinding
is the father of all the bad tempers. We sometimes sneak of
anger as if it were the onlv telnper when it is merely one of them.
Tempers are the indispositions of the mind, the emotions, and the
will. There are many : scolding, complaining, nagging, fretting,
grumbling, fuming, whining, sulking, pestering, fussing, moping,
sneering, snarling, opposing, arguing, and the others. The fault
primarily rests not with conditions but with the subject, the indi-
430 IMPROVEMENT ERA
vicinal himself or herself. It does not need a reason, an excuse
will suffice ; it creates a wrong- if one does not exist. It is often
the spontaneous combustion of a mood or a temperament that
needs no outside conditions to start its fire ; it burns because it is
its nature to burn and everything is food for its tongues of flame.
There are times when, merely in an acute form, it means only
tired nerves, illness of body or of mind, a little touch of loneliness
or the blues, the burden of anxiety and strain on the part of the
wife or of financial pressure, worry, or business cares that fret and
chafe on the part of the husband. Then it should be borne pa-
tiently, sweetly, soothingly, with gentle forbearing and forgiving
and forgetting as the mother bears the irritability and peevishness
of a sick child. But if it becomes chronic it means wantonly kill-
ing the happiness of both.
Sometimes the wife, through her love and loyalty and with
the best intentions, wounds and wearies her husband by her per-
sistent remonstrances, entreaties, and pleading and complaints,
bringing up constantly new arguments on the same old theme.
There are certain subjects upon which the two find they cannot
agree, each new discussion intensifies misunderstandings, yet one
or the other constantly reopens them. There should be an abso-
lute quarantine on these topics ; they should be consigned forever
to the realm of the unspoken, in the best interests of both.
There are some people who hoard up petty grievances as a
miser does gold coins and take a strange satisfaction in turning
them over and studying them in detail, giving them new dignity,
power and exaggerated value. We should cultivate the talent for
fine forgetting, banishing forever the disagreeable from our life.
our speech and our thought, if experience shows it cannot be
cured. If it can be cured it should be cured and — forgotten. We
never truly forgive if we let ghosts of regret haunt a memory.
Men and women who have nagging tempers are often bliss-
fully unconscious of it. Were it called to their attention they
would in most cases file some alibi of explanation or interpretation
that reveals their self-delusion. The wife feels that she is a martvr,
that no one realizes how much she has to suffer — she forgets that
most of it is of her own creation. She may even wonder why
there is continuous discord in the home ; she may recount her good
qualities and as she tearfully checks off the items vou may agree
with her in every instance, but she somehow overlooks the fact that
her tongue and her temper have made all these virtues count for
nothing. The sterling qualities of 'her character simply intensify
the sadness of it all ; the greater the value of a building and the
finer arrl richer its treasures the greater the loss when it is fed to
the flames.
Thp husband mav expand hi<; chest as though it were covered
with medals when he tells ho.w bountifully he provides for the
LITTLE PROBLEMS OF MARRIED LIFE 431
home — why does he not provide happiness ? He says he is strictly
temperate — why does he not introduce this quality into his lan-
guage ? He never smokes — why does he not realize it is no worse to
smoke than to fume ? He never goes in bad company — why does
he not get away from himself occasionally? He is popular among
men who know him — why does he not try to be popular at home ?
He is sucessful in business — why does he not make his home a
success ?
Constant faultfinding means death to the happiness of both.
It is hopelessly foolish, too, for no man or woman was ever con-
verted from a fault, failing or weakness through nagging. It
rouses the worse side of human nature, stubbornness, bitterness,
opposition ; it never stimulates nor inspires the better side. Man
responds better to an ideal to live up to than an evil to live down.
Praise for good accomplishes more than blame for evil. If you
tell a child that she has beautiful hair and a little care will make
it more beautiful you have touched through praise the secret spring
of her pride. If you tell her constantly how horrid and disorderly
her hair looks she is apt to grow defiant, reckless and uncaring.
The same philosophy applies to us older folks.
Where there be any habit of husband or wife that displeases,
a word of praise on some occasion where it seems mastered for
the moment, spoken with no reference to its being an exception,
may accomplish wonders by inspiring pride without wounding.
Nagging can only be cured in the individual by self-control. It
must be mastered, or happiness and all hope of it will die. Love,
comradeship, conference and trust in married life will banish it
and bring sweet peace, confidence and harmony in its stead.
["Talking Business Matters at Home" will be the next topic in this
series.]
Purity
Look not to lust, but hope and trust
That you may strength be given,
Both night and day, at work or play,
To live the laws of heaven;
Then, in the hour of Satan's power,
Your faith will never fail,
But stronger grow, as on you go
To realms beyond the veil.
M. A. Stewart.
MESA. ARIZONA
A Little Less-on
A little more of kindness, a little less of self;
A little less of blindness, a little less of pelf;
A little more of striving to make a better plan;
A little less conniving to "beat" the other man;
A little less of grudging, a little squarer game,
A little less of smudging the other fellow's name.
A little less of shirking, a little less complaint,
A little more of working, a little more of Saint;
A little deeper thinking, a little keener sight;
A little less of shrinking from what we know is Right;
A little more decision, a little less of Fate;
A little clearer vision, a little less of Hate;
A little less of doubting, a little closer care;
A little less of shouting, a little more of Prayer;
A little less of shoving our fellow-workers, then,
A little more of loving, and we'd all be better men.
Lon J. Haddock.
UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, LOGAN, UTAH
The Tired Mother
(Selected)
They were talking of the glory of the land beyond the skies,
Of the light and of the gladness to be found in paradise,
Of the flowers ever blooming, of the never-ceasing songs,
Of the wand'rings through the golden streets of happy, white-robed
throngs;
And said father, leaning cozily back in his easy chair,
(Father always was a master-hand for comfort everywhere):
"What a joyful thing 'twould be to know that when this life is o'er
One would straightway hear a welcome from the blessed, shining
shore!"
And Isabel, our eldest girl, glanced upward from the reed
She was painting on a water jug, and murmured: "Yes, indeed."
And Marian, the next in age, a moment dropped her book,
And, "Yes. indeed!" repeated with a most ecstatic look; '
But mother, gray-haired mother, who had come to sweep the room
With a patient smile on her thin lips, leaned lightly on her broom-
Poor mother! no one ever thought how much she had to do—
And said: "I hope it is not wrong not to agree with you,
But seems to me that when I die, before I join the blest, '
I'd like just for a little while to lie in my grave and rest."
— Harper's.
The Recall of Judges
BY DR. JOSEPH M. TANNER
This subject is one which just now is made a political conten-
tion among the great political parties of the United States. It is
not from a partisan standpoint that I approach the subject in this
article ; it is rather historical and legal. There is perhaps no phase
of the political development of our country more interesting, from
the standpoint of the historical, than that which relates to the
proposed right of the people to turn a judge out of office after he
has been duly elected and qualified. It may be said at the outset
that in no country in the world have the judges such far-reaching
and absolute powers as those exercised by the judiciary of the
United States. Let us see briefly how this has come about.
We adopted a Constitution and put it in writing. The avowed
purpose of that Constitution was to protect the people in funda-
mental rights against the encroachment and against the dangers
of popular government, for popular government has its dangers.
When Congress, therefore, passed a law, the question sometimes
arose whether it was in violation of constitutional rights. If such
a law did violate the Constitution it was evident that no part of
our government was so well qualified to declare it unconstitutional
as the judiciary. On the other hand, it was a very delicate matter
for one body of men, especially the judiciary, to turn down the
• legislature, a more numerous and altogether more imporant body
in the government of our country. That is what the judiciary
practically had to do whenever it declared a law unconstitutional.
As such a power, however, was experimental, in the early history
of our country, the judges exercised such a power in great mod-
eration and with great reservation. They said, then, that the
court would not declare a law unconstitutional unless it were so
palpably in violation of the fundamental law that no two reason-
able men could have diverse opinions on that subject. In other
words, the court said, if we had been legislators we would consider
the law unconstitutional ; but, as there is some doubt on the ques-
tion, we will give the legislature, or Congress, the benefit of that
doubt and not pronounce against the validity of an act of Congress.
In time the judges became less modest in the assertion of
their powers, and judges took the bench who did not always make
that fine discretion in favor of congressional enactments. The
result was that if the judges considered the preponderance of rea-
son or the argument against the constitutionality of the law, they
434 IMPROVEMENT ERA
declared it invalid, even though there might be much said in favor
of the view taken by Congress in the passage of the law.
Then we come to this anomalous situation, that the supreme
court itself was divided as to whether the preponderance of reason
or the argument was on the side of the constitutionality or uncon-
stitutionality of the law. They were not asking themselves any more
whether it was so clearly unconstitutional that no two reasonable
men could have any substantial differences of opinion on the ques-
tion, and they gave Congress, therefore, no benefit of the doubt.
It may be said that the people of the United States, until
recent years, have been measurably satisfied with the conduct of
our courts. A few judges have been impeached by Congress, as
the Constitution provided; though judges were appointed for life,
Congress might turn them out of office when they were guilty
of treason or other high crimes and misdemeanors. This pro-
vision of the Constitution, it will be seen, put restrictions upon the
judges by which they could be controled if they exercised their
powers in an unconstitutional manner. There arose, in time, those
who believed that judges ought to be removed from their offices
when they were guilty of questionable conduct, even though they
could not be punished in a criminal court for what they had done.
They believed that judges might place themselves under obliga-
tions to money and other influences that would make it difficult, if
not impossible, for judges to act in an impartial manner, and that
the people should be permitted to say by a vote in an election called
for that purpose, whether or not the judge should be turned out
of his office.
Recently a judge of the United States has been impeached
and by the judgment of the Senate lost his position. It is very
doubtful whether this judge who was impeached could be pun-'
ished in a criminal court for any violation of the criminal law. In
dealing with this case, Congress brought to its assistance another
provision of the Constitution than that which dealt with high
crimes and misdemeanors. There is a provision that judges shall
hold their offices during good behavior, and this good behavior
clause the Senate of the United States evidently thought was suf-
ficient to oust Mr. Archbald from his judgeship.
It will be seen that we have broken away from the question
as to whether high crime or misdemeanor must be proven against
a judge before he can be ousted. He may lose his office, also, for
misbehavior, and that is a very general term, and enables Congress
to say even in an indefinite manner whether a man is or is not fit
to hold the office of a judge. The question now, as it touches the
political phase of the case, is whether Congress and the legisla-
tures, shall determine the recall of the judges, or whether their
recall shall be made or attempted by a vote of the people at large.
That is a political question which I may not here discuss.
"Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator"
[This scholarly criticism by Dr. Webb, appeared in the Descret News, January
18, and has been corrected by the author for the Improvement Era. The editor of
The News introduced the article by the following note : "The author is a non-
resident of Utah, and is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. The article as received by The News was accompanied by the statement
that the author had written it upon his own initiative, without request or suggestion
from any member of the Church, and solely because of his interest in the subject,
to which his attention had been drawn by the publication of the pamphlet by Epis-
copal Bishop F. S. Spalding, and comments thereon." — The Editors.]
A Critical Examination of the Fac -Similes in the Book of Abraham
BY ROBERT C. WEBB, PH. D.
The title of this review is also the
title of a pamphlet recently issued
by the Right Rev. F. S. Spalding,
Bishop of Utah, "with the kind as-
sistance of capable scholars," which
embodies a discussion of the ''Mor-
mon" prophet's abilities as a trans-
lator of ancient dcouments — including
the Book of'Mormon ("for the sake of
argument") — in the light of his
apparent failure to rightly in-
terpret certain Egyptian drawings,
commonly included with, and be-
lieved to illustrate, the Book of
Abraham. Joseph Smith's failure
to interpret these drawings is, pre-
sumably, established by the opin-
ions of several prominent Egyptolog-
ists, who have been consulted by
Bishop Spalding. These authorities,
while differing among themselves in
some details, all join in stating that
Smith's interpretations are entirely
wrong, and, in the words of one of
their number a "farrago of nonsense."
This looks very like a final disproof
of the Prophet's claims, in this in-
stance, at least, and has been received
as such by a goodly portion of the
public.
It is to be regretted that the Bishop's
pamphlet is not in itself a more
scholarly production, showing evi-
dences of some original research on the
matter in hand, in addition to the
opinions of the several scholars quot-
ed by him. We should then have been
able to take his points, one by one,
and analyze them. He lv.s given us,
however, only a few extremely gen-
eral criticisms, the common kernel of
which seems to be this, "Joseph Smith
could have known nothing of Egyp-
tian drawings; therefore he knew
nothing." The scholars quoted evi-
dently do not consider the CAUSE
CELEBRE, Spalding VS. Smith, a
matter of sufficient importance to
warrant the giving of desirable details
in their expert testimony, and, in lieu
of these essential and interesting facts,
which should have beeen presented,
seem inclined to fill valuable space
with sundry expressions of contempt
at the efforts of a non-professional
translator.
All this is a genuine disappointment
to the candid reader, who, in view of
the promises made before publication,
had expected to find Smith's points
discussed and attacked, one by one,
until all were disposed of. If possible,
one might then have presented avail-
able counter-proofs and arguments in
rebuttal. But, as it is, the prosecution
rests its case on the reputations and
standing of its witnesses, rather than
on what they have established as re-
gards the matter at issue. Conse-
quently, the argument of the defense
is entirely constructive.
In view of all the adverse testimony
at hand, what may be said on the
other side of the present controversy?
436
IMPROVEMENT ERA
Has the defense a "leg to stand on?"
Is there even a shadow of justification
for the traditional explanations of the
plates in question, as offered by, or
attributed to Joseph Smith? In order
to determine these issues, it will be
necessary for the defense to do what
Bishop Spalding or some one of his
coterie of experts should have done
at the start — take up each point in
order, examine Joseph Smith's ex-
planation, and determine, by research
and reliance on the statements of com-
petent scholars, precisely how far
from, or how near to, the truth he
has come in each and every case. That
this is the proper course to follow is
obvious when we consider that the
trouble seems to be, not that they
have given the defense too much to
answer, but that they have not given
enough. One and all they have said
far too little for the good of the
Bishop's cause.
In starting this discussion we must
bear in mind that, as emphasized by
several of Bishop Spalding's "capable
scholars," the science of Egyptology
began with Champollion's discovery of
the key to hieroglyphic writing in 1822.
Furthermore, we must not forget that
the results of his discovery were not
available to the world until the period,
1836-41, when his grammar was in
course of publication. It is evident,
then, as pointed out by Dr. Breasted,
"that if Joseph Smith could read an-
cient Egyptian writing, his ability
to do so had no connection with the
decipherment of hieroglyphics by
European scholars." Consequently, if
Smith be found correct in more than
one or two minor particulars, which
should be evident to anyone, the in-
ference is that his claim to extra-
ordinary guidance seems in way to
confirmation.
If we find him right in any one or
several essential particulars, such fact
may not be consistently explained by
his wide reading on Egyptian subjects,
since most of the matters at issue
were very imperfectly understood and
presented in his day, also, few, if any,
of the best books then current wer°
probably available to him, even had
he wished to consult them. If, then,
he was right in one, or even several,
particulars, the fact may be explained
by coincidence; if he is found to be
right in a majority of particulars in
any given connection, it is clear that
he must have been, at the least, an
unusually successful guesser.
Again, we must carefully remember
. that the point at issue in the present
controversy is only the correctness of
his interpretation of the three plates
usually included with the text of the
Book of Abraham. No claim is made
that any of the hieroglyphics here found
form an essential part of the revela-
tion to the "Father of the Faithful,"
which the book professes to embody.
In the case of the circular figure,
which our scholars agree in terming a
"hypocephalus," or plate to be placed
under the head of a mummy, for cer-
tain ceremonial reasons, Joseph Smith
explicitly declares that the "writing
. . . cannot be revealed unto the
world;" "ought not to be revealed at
the present time;" "will be given in the
own due time of the Lord," etc. He
does not even state that he under-
stands them himself, or that he be-
lieves that he ^ understands them. In
the third plate, also, he attempts no
direct translation, except to state thai
the name of "Shulem" is "represented
by the characters above his hand."
On the showing in this matter, we
may safely assert that, had Smith
been the sort of person many of his
critics would have us believe, he would
probably have "rushed in" where even
scholars "fear to tread," and given
us some "translation," or other that
might have been easily discredited on
scientific examination. Particularly
evident does this conclusion seem in
view of the statement of Prof. Petrie
in his "Abydos" (vol. 1) that the in-
scriptions on hypocephali are common-
ly so confused, erratic and uncertain
that consistent translations may not
be attempted. It is curious, indeed,
that the very class of inscriptions
found difficult by scholars should
have been declared by Joseph Smith
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR'
437
to contain hidden and mystical mat-
ters that should not be declared to the
world.
Several significant statements are
made regarding these plates. Dr.
Peters calls them "very poor imita-
tions of Egyptian originals, apparently
not of any one original, but of Egyp-
tian originals in general." Dr. Breast-
ed asserts that "these three facsimiles
. . . depict the most common objects
in the mortuary religion of Egypt."
We may admit, after examination of
the usual line of Egyptian drawings,
as found in numerous works in our
great libraries, that Plates 1 and 3
do not represent the highest reach of
Egyptian art, or of art after the
Egyptian style. However, that they
are taken from originals, either
Egyptian, or after the Egyptian style,
there seems to be no question among
our commentators. There is one point
that must be emphasized, however,
and this is that, unless these drawings
have been altered in several essential
particulars, either in the process of
transferring them to the printing
blocks, or at some other time, they
do not represent the common run of
illustrations in the Book of the Dead,
the best known, and most typical of
Egyptian mortuary papyri. If there is
no evidence that they were not alter-
ed in copying, there is also no evidence
that they were so altered. Consequent-
ly, it seems logical to consider them
precisely as they are. This, indeed, is
all that can be done in the present
discussion, since any arguments based
on presumed alterations would prob-
ably be rejected by the Latter-day
Saints; while the claim that these pic-
tures may be in their original form
seems to be assumed by the Bishop's
panel of "capable scholars."
F AC-SIMILE NO. 1.
In the discussion of the first of
these plates in Bishop Spalding's
pamphlet, there is a slight variation
of opinion among the experts. Thus
Prof. Petrie calls the scene "Anubis
preparing the body of the dead man."
Dr. Breasted calls it "Osiris rising from
the dead." Dr. Peters declares that it
represents "an embalmer preparing a
body for burial." The others seem
similarly opinioned, Dr. Bissing adding,
however, that ''the soul is leaving the
body in the moment when the priest is
opening the body with a knife for
mummification." None of these emin-
ent authorities suggests that the
drawing has been altered. Dr. Lythgoe
of New York, however, as reported
in an interview in the NEW YORK
TIMES (Dec. 29, 1912.) asserts that
the knife in the hand of the standing
figure has been added, and, also, that
this figure is "shown with a human
and strangely un-Egyptian head," in
place of the jackal head of Anubis,
which he thinks was in the original.
This latter defect might be attributed
to the unskilfulness of the original
engraver, who worked without the
help of photography, and has al-
ready been roundly blamed for "ignor-
ant copying" of the hieroglyphics.
These slight variations of opinion,
while in no way impugning the au-
thority of any of these eminent
scholars, may reasonably be accepted
as presumptive evidence that the plate,
as shown in the Book of Abraham, is
not familiar to Egyptologists, and that
no duplicate is known. There are
numerous representations of Anubis,
"protector of the dead," standing be-
side the corpse or mummy on its
bier. It may be safe to assert, how-
ever, that, in all such drawings, Anubis
is shown in the conventional manner,
having a jackal's head with elongat-
ed snout, never with a human head.
Furthermore, in all such scenes, the
dead lies in perfectly composed posi-
tion, also flat upon the couch, any
such elevation of the limbs, or raising
of the body, as is shown in the Book
Of Abraham plate, being entirely un-
known. It is evident that the position
of the limbs, and of the body led Dr.
Breasted to believe the scene to repre-
sent the resurrection of Osiris.
That the picture indicates a person
dead, about to die, or in the act of
rising from the dead, seems demon-
strated, and on this point all explana-
tions agree. But before proceeding to a
discussion of the explanation given in
438
IMPROVEMENT ERA
connection with the Book of Abra-
ham, it is in order to inquire as to
precisely what reference is made to
this picture in the text. Here Abraham
is represented as saying:
"And it came to pass that the priests
laid violence upon me, that they might
slay me upon this altar;
... It was made after the form of a
bedstead, such as was had among the
Chaldeans, and it stood before the
gods of Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmack-
rah, Korash, and also a god like unto
that of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
"That you may have an understand-
ing of these gods, I have given you
the fashion of them in the figures at
the beginning, which manner of the
figures is called by the Chaldeans,
Rahleenos, which signifies hiero-
glyphics.
This passage may be interpreted to
signify that the representation is ide-
ographic, rather than literal. The sev-
eral idols are disposed beneath the
couch, or altar, rather than in the
position indicated in the text, which
specifies that this altar "stood before
the gods." If, then, we are to under-
stand that this figure constitutes an
hieroglyphic ideogram, it is perfectly
consistent to see the representation of
a human sacrifice — or attempted sacri-
fice— in the positions shown here for
all elements of the picture, the gods
being shown in the most available
empty space in the drawing.
However, reasonable as this explana-
tion appears, and consistent with the
text, as it seems to be, there are sev-
eral real difficulties in the way of
proposing it as an immediate solution
of the matter. In other words, sundry
objections — well founded enough in
themselves, and not of necessity hostile
in character — must be met and consid-
ered on their merits. These objections
have been made, as all know, by
recognized authorities on Egyptology;
men who have devoted careful atten-
tion to Egyptian drawings and inscrip-
tions, who are recognized authorities
in their field, and who, in addition,
have no immediate interest in any con-
troversy between the "Mormons" and
other bodies. Furthermore, these ob-
jections furnish the basis for just such
a careful inquiry into the claims of
Joseph Smith as Latter-day Saints are
constantly inviting.
Briefly expressed, the findings of the
Egyptologists, as given in the
Spalding pamphlet, agree in the state-
ment that the "gods of Elkenah, Lib-
nah, Mahmackrah and Korash" are
merely the "mummy pots" for con-
taining the viscera of the deceased, as
shown in innumerable Egyptian death
scenes, and that the presence of the
heads on the covers — the hawk, the
jackal, the cynocephalus and the man
— indicates a period far posterior to
Abraham's lifetime. In the words of
Dr. Lythgoe, as quoted in the NEW
YORK TIMES interview, there were
three distinct stages in the develop-
ment of these mummy pots. "In the
earliest, when Egyptian art consisted
of things made from Nile mud, the
jars had ordinary flat lids. Afterward
they contained the head of a single
human as a stock design for the lid,
and afterward the heads of the four
sons of the mythological god Horus
appeared on the lids." These facts led
Dr. Lythgoe to place the date of the
Book of Abraham picture in the third
period of development, which should
fall somewhere after 3 400 B. C.
As the history and identity of these
four sons of Horus are important to
this discussion, the following (quota-
tion from Dr. Budge (Book of the
Dead) may be given here:
"The four children of Horus are
named Hapi, Tuamautef, Amset, Qeb-
sennuf. The deceased is called their
father. His two arms are identified
with Hapi and Tuamautef, and his two
legs, with Amset and Qebsennuf; and
when he entered into Sekhet-Aanru
[the Field of Aanru flowers, the Islands
of the Blessed] they accompanied him
as guides, and went in with him, two
on each side. They took all hunger and
thirst from him, they gave him life in
heaven and protected it when given.
. . . Originally they represented the
four pillars which support the sky, or
Horus. Each was supposed to be lord
of one of the quarters of the world, and
finally became the god of the cardinal
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR'
439
point. Hapi was the god of the North
Tuamautef was the god of the East.
Amset was the god of the South. Qeb-
sennuf was the god of the West. In the
xviiith Dynasty the Egyptians originat-
ed the custom of embalming the intes-
tines of the body separately, and they
placed them in four jars, each of which
was devoted to the protection of one
of the children of Horus, that is to the
care of one of the gods of the cardinal
points. The god of the North protected
the small viscera. The god of the East
protected the heart and lungs. The god
of the South protected the stomach
and small intestine. The god of the
West protected the liver and gall blad-
der."
This quotation suffices to show that
these four "canopic deities" possessed
attributes quite above and independent
of the somewhat ignoble duty of fur-
nishing convenient receptables for con-
taining the entrails of the mummied
dead. They were, in fact, as the gods
of the four quarters, also typical of the
peoples of the four quarters; hence of
the world in general, outside as well
as inside of Egypt: that the text of
"Abraham" mentions the "idolatrous
god of Pharaoh," as distinct from these
four is interesting. Whatever the au-
thor of the Book of Abraham intended
to indicate by calling these gods by
the names of Elkenah, Libnah, Mah-
mackrah, and Korash is not clear, but,
on any hypothesis it is possible to hold
that they are typical of the "gods of
the nations round about," the tute-
laries of several definite tribes, one lo-
cated, perhaps, in the Biblical town of
Libnah. The eclectic priesthood that
worshipped them, also worshipped the
crocodile god of Egypt, thus forming a
pantheon by no means unusual in an-
cient times, when the rule was for one
nation to identify the gods of others
with members of its own company of
deities, or even to adopt the gods of
foreigners. Had any such document as
the Book of Abraham been found and .
translated by scholars, some such line
of reasoning would probably have been
followed, in view, particularly, of the
direct statement that the "manner of
the figures" is hieroglyphical, signify-
ing, possibly, symbolic.
According to the accepted Biblical
chronology, Abraham visited Egypt in
the latter part of the nineteenth cen-
tury B. C, although some modern his-
torians have placed the date several
centuries earlier. It has been believed,
however, that he was in Egypt in the
early centuries of the Hyksos domina-
tion, which would probably place the
date later than 2100 B. C, and earlier
than 1700 B. C. This latter supposition
would seem to account for his hospit-
able reception by the Pharaoh of the
time, also, in part, for the numerous
Abraham legends found among Semitic
peoples and in the Koran. It is possi-
ble, also, on the basis of certain his-
toric testimony, to hold that Joseph,
who probably came to Egypt about two
centuries later than Abraham, took
service under one of the later Hyksos
kings. The overthrow of the Hyksos,
and the incoming of the Eighteenth
Dynasty under Aahmes, would seem
to correspond to the accession of the
"Pharaoh that knew not Joseph."
According to the testimony of an-
tiquity, and of the Oriental World,
Abraham was a very important person;
not only beloved of God, but also very
great among men. The belief, then,
that he was held in such high esteem
among the Egyptians, that a cult was
formed to represent him or his reported
teachings may be ranked among tol-
erable hypotheses. That he should have
written a book, embodying his religious
and other beliefs, or that such a book
should have been produced and at-
tributed to him, are among the possi-
bilities. Provided that these supposi-
tions are in any sense correct, such a
book might have come to be so highly
esteemed, for its holiness, even for
supposed "magical potency," among
pome portions of the Egyptian popula-
tion, at least, that it would have been
buried with their dead, as was the
Book of the Dead, the Sorrows of Isis
and Nephthys, and other mortuary vol-
umes.
That the Book of Abraham purports
to be such a work is shown by the ac-
440
IMPROVEMENT ERA
cepted account of its finding and trans-
lation. According to Joseph Smith's
own story, the papyrus on which the
three plates under consideration ap-
peared was found upon a mummy pur-
chased from a Mr. Chandler, who had
had it on exhibition at various places.
Chandler had come to the Prophet ask-
ing for assistance in translating
the "hieroglyphic figures and de-
vices," and later gave him a let-
ter stating that his interpreta-
tions agreed with those given by
the "most learned" of several cities
"in the most minute matters." Subse-
quent to the purchase of Chandler's
mummies and papyri by "some of the
saints at Kirtland," Joseph Smith set
himself industriously to the task of
translation. He records that "with W.
W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as
scribes, I commenced the translation of
some of the characters or hieroglyphics,
and much to our joy, found that one of
the rolls contained the writings of
Abraham, another the writings of Jo-
seph of Egypt." The Book of Joseph,
it would appear ras never given to
the world.
Some of the Latter-day Saints seem
to have believed that the papyri in
question represented the actual auto-
graphic work of Abraham and Joseph —
that the hand of Abraham had pressed
the very papyrus handled by Joseph
Smith. Such a conclusion, however,
does not seem to be involved in the
text of Smith's account, and need not
be considered authoritative. Smith un-
doubtedly believed that the documents
in his hands were books written by
Abraham and Joseph, but he does not
state that they might not have been
copies of the originals. Assuming, then,
that he made a correct translation,
through superhuman guidance, or
otherwise, the criticisms alleging dates
later than Abraham's time are effect-
ually answered. The copyist of some
later day, finding images of the "Cano-
pic gods," or of any similar animal-
headed gods for that matter, shown
"after the manner of hieroglyphics," as
previously stated, naturally disposed
them in the order most familiar in his
day. The same remark may be made
concerning the third plate, and the
many difficulties suggested by scholars
.°.re thus explained.
Nor does this theory seem wholly ab-
s 'rd, in view of the fact that such an
attempted sacrifice as is described in
connection with the first plate, or such
■ court scene as is alleged to be rep-
i sented by the third plate, might very
"-adily have been confused with the
,,nore familiar "embalming" or "resur-
"cction,'' on the one hand, and "Osiris
'idging the dead," or "Osiris receiving
' doration,'' on the other.
If, in addition to these evident occa-
c ons of misunderstanding, the hiero-
"lyphic writing expressed, not Egyp-
tian, but Semitic, words — the language
rf Abraham, in fact — the confusion in
the mind of the scribe would seem to
have been nearly inevitable. Assuming,
pven if only "for the sake of argu-
ment," as Bishop Spalding has done in
another matter mentioned in his pam-
phlet, that Joseph Smith reallv trans-
lated the papyrus in his hand, the hypo-
thesis assuming a Semitic dialect, writ-
ten in hieroglyphics, seems reasonable
from his use of several Semitic words
— Kolob, etc., which Dr. Sayce assures
ps "are unknown to the Egyptian lan-
guage." It also explains the confident
manner in which he ascribes the use
of such Semitic words to the Egyptians.
Furthermore, if the second figure,
the "hypocephalus," be claimed as orig-
;nal with the author of the Book of
\braham, the subsequent use oi pre-
cisely similar charts for mortuary pur-
noses would seem to add new weight to
(he hypothesis that the book in ques-
tion was familiar in some quarters;
'^ence that the hypocephalus came into
its known historical use because of the
< vident mystical significance of its sev-
eral figure-elements.
Although this explanation of the mat-
ter can be expected to carry no very
strong presumption of probability to the
'-finds of Egyptologists, who will prob-
ably continue to regard Smith's ex-
planations as quite in line with those of
Athanasius Kirscher, the immensely
learned Jesuit of the seventeenth cen-
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR'
441
tury, or of Dr. Adolph Seyffarth. whose
scheme for interpreting hieroglyphics
harl its partisans, even after the ac-
curacy of Champollion's conclusions
had been accepted, the fact that Jo-
seph Smith actually gave the true and
subsequently-ascertained meaning to a
very large proportion of the objects,
which he professed to describe, is a
fact demanding some comment other
than ridicule.
Turning now from consideration of
the standing and reclining figures,
about which there seems to be a very
pronounced difference of opinion, also
from the "gods of the four quarters,"
whose association with mummy pots
seems to constitute a very evident loss
of caste in the minds of most observ-
ers, we may take up the other matters
in turn. Thus, we see the crocodile,
like the other "gods" beneath the
"altar." His presence there might be
interpreted to signify the evil genius
who ever lay in wait to deprive the dead
of his "magical ' power of coming safe-
ly into the presence of the gods of
Amenti (the Netherworld), and of sur-
viving their judgments. Such a repre-
sentation of the crocodile is undoubted-
ly a part of his functions as the God
Sebek, a form of Ra, as indicating the
"destroying power of the sun," and
who was worshiped in Egypt as far
back as the time of the xiiith
Dynasty. "There may have been a
time," says Dr. Charles K. C. Davis,
"when he was worshiped throughout
Egypt, but in the Graeco-Roman period
he was a local deity so disliked in most
parts of Egypt that the Arsinoite nome,
where he was worshipped, does not ap-
pear in the geographical lists."
Another notable figure in this plate
is the flying bird, marked 1. Joseph
Smith calls it "the angel of the Lord,"
but it is notable that it is not identi-
fied with a dove, or other sacred em-
blem. The authorities quoted in Spald-
ing's pamphlet call this figure "the
hawk of Horus"; "a bird, in which
form Isis is represented"; "the soul
(Kos) flying away in the form of a
bird"; "the soul in the shape of the
bird," and "Isis." Any one of these ex-
planations is perfectly logical and con-
sistent on the supposition that the
scene is one from the Book of the Dead,
or some other mortuary work of the
Egyptians, although the form and posi-
tion of the figure differ widely from
conventional usage. The "hawk of
Horus," usually considered as a rep-
resentation of Isis, who, according to
the fable, gave birth to Horus in the
form of a hawk, is often shown in
mortuary pictures, but usually appears
standing upright, with folded wing*,
at the head of the bier, while the god-
dess Nephthys, also in hawk form,
stands in similar pose at the foot. The
hawk in the air, or in flight, is con-
ventionally represented side on, with
wings on the down stroke, extending
beneath its body. In this form Isis may
occasionally be identified in the death
chamber, but very usually in company
with Nephthys. Furthermore, the con-
ventional representation of the "soul
flying away in the form of a bird"
shows a human head on its shoulders,
and the wings similarly on the down
stroke. So much for the conventional
manner of representing the flying bird
in such connections.
On the supposition of one of the
critics that this plate has been altered,
and that a "human and strangely un-
Egyptian head" has been drawn on the
standing figure, which he calls "An-
ubis," it is strange that the bird is
changed in no particular. The ascribe!
character of an angel would undoubted-
ly have seemed to demand the change
of the head, or of the whole body, fo-
that matter, to human form. Had a
human head appeared in the original,
the change to the bird head is not to be
considered. Here, it would undoubted-
ly have appeared, was an angel in the
proper traditional form, no change be-
ing demanded to fit the description. If
the bird was drawn in upon the original
scene, which did not show it, the rea-
sons for not inserting some figure like
an angel, instead, must seem obscure.
In view, however, of its decidedly un-
Egyptian appearance, it seems allow-
able to state that +he interpretation
making this figure to indicate the
"Angel of the Lord" has quite as great
442
IMPROVEMENT ERA
presumption of proDability as any of
the other proposed. explanations.
The figure marked 10 in this plate,
and evidently a votive table, is, for
apparently obscure reasons, said to
signify "Abraham in Egypt." But this
interpretation will be discussed in con-
nection with Plate 3, where it is re-
peated.
We find the number 11 attached to a
panel of apparently haphazard lines
and rectangles, and indicating the
interpretation, "designed to represent
the pillars of heaven, as understood by
the Egyptians." While the Egyptians
did not "understand" so many "pillars
of heaven" as are apparently shown
here, we find several interesting coin-
cidences of shape, if nothing more,
with certain pictures and ideograms
having meanings similar to those men-
tioned in this explanation. For example,
near the left end of this panel we find
a fairly good diagram of one of the
several traditional representations of
the construction of the heavens. But
for the broken lines in the print, we
should see here three squared hoops or
rectangles, the second within the first
and the third within the second. This is
a fairly correct diagram of the God-
dess Noot bending over the earth, her
body unnaturally elongated to form
the sky, and her feet and hands
resting upon the ground. Along
her belly the sun daily moves
from east to west. Beneath her is
another shorter and smaller figure in
similar pose, which is believed to rep-
resent the night sky, along whose
body the moon travels nightly in pre-
cisely similar fashion. Below ibis fig-
ure again, and within the arch formed
by her body, stands yet a third, Shu,
the brother of Noot and god of the
air, whose task it is to uphold his
sister in her rather uncomfortable po-
sition. He is represented as standing
somewhat impossibly, upon his feet
and shoulders, while his head and neck
lie along the ground to the front ot
his body, and his arms to the rear.
This fantastic group shows one tradi-
tional Egyptian concept of the heav-
ens and of the "pillars of heaven." In
another figure the sky is represented
as a cow, whose four legs, like the
foui limbs of the human Noot, form
the pillars of heaven. In one familiar
hieroglyphic ideogram for the sky or
the heavens, Noot is shown bending as
ahovn described, over symbols of the
air and earth. Also, as shown in
Champollion's Dictionary, two squared,
or rectangular, hoops, the one within
the other, indicate the sky, or the
heavens.
The Canopic Gods, as the four pillar?
of heaven, are sometimes represented
ideographically by four perpendicular
lines, each an elongated "Y." Some
suggestion of such an ideogram occurs
at the right end of this panel. Similar
perpendicular lines, surmounted by a
bow-shaped curve, form the traditional
ideogram for "rain," "storm," etc., the
bow indicating the sky. Some of these
"correspondences" seem interesting.
The section marked 12 is explained
as indicating "the firmament over our
heads, . . . the heavens." Although
the symbolism is not clear, the croco-
dile figure is in the correct surround-
ings, if we understand it to indicate
Sebek, "a form of Ra (the Sun God)
and the destroying power of the sun;"
for such was the "idolatrous god of
Pharaoh" at an early Egyptian period.
Perhaps the animal-headed idols also
appeared originally, also, in "the heav-
ens." This would account for the ''con-
fusion," which ultimately resulted in
their transfer to places "beneath the
altar." Accoiding to the Book, Abra-
ham must have derived some idea that
these "gods" were real existences,
even if "false" objects of worship;
and "the heavens" usually house all
"gods."
FAC-SIMILE NO. 2.
The consideration of Joseph Smith's
interpretations of the second plate of
the series repeals several surprising
facts. Indeed, while one mast feel
obliged to consider respectfully the
statements of Egyptologists touching
the details of this plate, their com-
mon conclusion that Smith's explana-
tions are all wrong seems very ill-
founded, ana may be questioned.
All our authorities agree in calling
this figu^p a "hypocephalus," which is
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR"
443
to say, a disk drawn on papyrus, en-
ameled fabric, metal or clay, and
placed beneath the mummy's head in
a late period of Egyptian history.
These hypocephali are frequently re-
ferred to as "magical disks," and
their assumed effect has been stated
to have been "to prevent the loss of
the mummy's head," "to keep the de-
ceased warm in the Netherworld," etc.
Regarding the origin of these disks
or the interpretation of their inscrip-
tions, scholars are very uncertain.
Prof. Petrie says ("Abydos," vol. 1):
"The latter [inscriptions] are hope-
lessly confused; many of the groups
of signs having but a faint resemb-
lance, if any, to known words. Al-
though there are some thirty specimens
in the various museums, a comparison
of these . . . does not help much in
their decipherment; and it would
therefore be very undesirable to offer
even a conditional translation
The hypocephalus appears to have had
its origin in connection with chapter
clxii of the Book of the Dead. From
the rubric of this chapter we learn
that the figure of the cow Hathor
was to be fashioned in gold, and placed
upon the neck of the mummy; and that
another was to be drawn upon papy-
rus, and placed under the head, the
idea being to give 'warmth to the
deceased in the Underworld. After
the eighteenth dynasty the cow-amu-
let fell into disuse, and the drawing
upon papyrus developed into the hy-
pocephalus, upon which the cow al-
ways remained an important figure.
Papyrus was almost entirely aband-
oned in favor of more durable material,
such as linen, stucco, and rarely
bronze. The fashion, however, was
not long-lived, and did not survive the
fall of the thirtieth dynasty."
This theory, which may be held to
explain, in part at least, the mortuary
use of hypocephali, because of the
presence of the "cow of Hathor" as an
"important figure." probably would
not be urged as a fall solution for
the origin and entire significance of
this type of document. The cow figure
is obviously no more prominent than
several others, which do m t seem to
be demanded by the directions touch-
ing amulets, etc., in the Book of the
Dead. It may be admissible, there-
fore, to hold that such disks had
originally some significance independ-
ent of mortuary use, and that they
came to be used for the purpose speci-
fied for certain reasons — including
probably the presence of the cow fig-
ure—that are not wholly apparent,
even after exhaustive research.
The general appearance of the draw-
ing would seem to suggest an astro-
nomical or astrological diagram, al-
though the disposition of the several
figures, mostly familiar in Egyptian
art and religion, might warrant the
conclusion that the real ultimate
meaning is properly esoteric, intra-
temple or sacerdotal. As the secret
lore of the Egyptians was evidently
committed to writing very seldom, if
ever, it is not remarkable that Egyp-
tologists must base their explanations
largely upon exoteric, extra-temple
and popular sources of information.
Hence many theories on these matters
may be regarded as insufficient and
tentative, because they leave so much
still to be explained. The theory of
an origin and significance for hypo-
cephali, independent of mortuary use,
successfully evades the inferences of
Dr. Breasted's criticism, that these
drawings "did not appear in any Egyp-
tian burials until over a thousand
years after the time of Abraham."
The date of their origin may be held
to be quits as uncertain as their orig-
inal significance.
The majority of known hypocephali
conform in general details with the
second plate of the Book of Abraham.
The common, hence, apparently, the
essential features are those designated
here by the figures, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 22, 23.
in space 3 several hypocephali have two
boats, the one above the other. In space
7 an attenuated ramphant animal fig-
ure with a long tail, commonly identi-
fied with Nehebka, the serpent god, ap-
pears on some examples, instead of the-
one shown in the Book of Abraham
diagram. Other hypocephali show the
seated figure, 7, close to the circum-
ference of the inner circle, with no
444
IMPROVEMENT ERA
other figure in front of it. Some have
several cynocephali in addition to 22
and 23, usually four more, making six
in all; these occupying the spaces to
the right and left here filled with hiero-
glyphics. In several, also, additional
figures are drawn behind the Canopic
Gods, shown at 6. What these varia-
tions may signify it is, of course, im-
possible to determine. Egyptologists
agree fairly well, however, as to the
identity of most of the figures, al-
though the meaning of the whole may
not yet have been decided upon.
The explanations of this chart or
diagram in connection with the Book
of Abraham, it is desirable to em-
phasize, deals solely with the pic-
torial elements. No interpretation of
the inscriptions is offered. The com-
ment in reference to 8, "writing that
cannot be revealed unto the world;
but may be had in the Holy Temple
of God," is reasonable, in view of the
probably esoteric significance of the
drawing, as already suggested. The ex-
planation of the diagrams as astrono-
mical or cosmological agrees very
closely with the findings of scholars,
even as stated in the Spalding pam-
phlet. Herein, indeed, is the most not-
able example of the fact that too lit-
tle, and not too much, has been said
in the controversy.
The central figure, numbered 1, evi-
dently double-faced, seated and hold-
ing some form of sceptre or symbolic
staff in the outstretched right ha»d,
differs from the figure occupying the
same position in other hypocephali. In
general, this central figure is shown
with four heads or faces, two looking
each way, and appears to warrant the
explanation of Dr. Petrie that it in-
dicates the four-ram-headed god of
Memphis, a form of Ra, the Sun God,
whose heads indicate "the spirits of
the four elements, RA (fire,) SHU
(air,) GEB (earth,) and USAR
(water,)" supposed to be united in
him. Since. however, the figure
under consideration evidently does
not show four heads of rams or other
beings, and is evidently double-faced
only, it is reasonable to conclude that
some different explanation must apply
here.
The double-faced figure is, also, pri-
marily, a representation of Ra, the
Sun God, and is so drawn to combine
his two personified aspects, Khephera,
the morning, or rising, sun, and Tmu,
the evening, or setting, sun. Comment-
ing on a hypocephalus showing a fig-
ure at 2 very similar to the one shown
here, Prof. Petrie remarks: "At the
top is the double god, who personified
the rising and setting sun." On this
showing it is reasonable to conclude
that the double-faced figure at 1 also
represents the sun, or a sun, having its
rising and setting. This conclusion be-
comes all the more probable in view of
the presence of the two cynocephali, 22
and 23. Dr. Petrie ("Abydos," vol. i),
commenting on a hypocephalus also
containing only two such figures, says
"Two small apes, the final degradation
of the eight adoring cynocephali [who
are often shown greeting the rising
sun] may be noticed. These represent
the four primeval pairs of gods of
chaos, called collectively
'KHEMENU.' . . . Figures such as
these are to be found on nearly all
known hypocephali, however erratic
the inscriptions."
These cynocephali are pictured in re-
presentations of the rising sun shown
:r numerous papyri of the Book of the
Dead. A common device shows the ris-
ing sun supported by a pair of arms
starting from the tau cross (the crux
ansata,) or ''symbol of life" (ANKH,)
which, in turn, is supported on a rib-
bed pillar (TAT,) the "symbol of
Osiris,'' the God, or King of the
Netherworld. Isis and Nephthys, in
either human or symbolic form, kneel
at the base of the column, while the
company of cynocephali, sometimes
six, sometimes seven, occasionally
eight, the "transformed openers of the
eastern portals of heaven," follow the
sun upward, "raising their hands in
adoration."
Such examples show that these
cynocephali, whatever their original
signification, are the proper tradi-
tional companions and worshippers of
the sun. On hypocephali, however,
these apes are shown with globes or
disks upon their heads, which is a
notable departure from the common
•'JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR"
445
line of drawings showing them with
the rising sun. The figurative signi-
ficance of the globe, or disk, upon the
head of a figure, or in inscriptions, is
that of the sun or moon. In this case
the disks evidently rest upon an arc-
shaped base, strongly suggestive of the
horned moon, and presenting a very
good reproduction of the hieroglyphic
ideogram for moon, which is so writ-
ten. Unless, therefore, we quite mis-
understand the significance of Egyp-
tian symbolism, it seems probable
that these ape figures, crowned with
disks or globes, indicate moons or
satellites of some sun or planet, which
they are following "adoringly." It is
clear, therefore, that, whatever else
may be imphed in this figure, we
have here some one of the numerous
forms of Ra, which is to say the sun,
or a sun, with his accompanying
KHEMENU, or else planets or moons.
The explanation given in connection
with this figure is that it indicates
"Kolob, signifying the first creation,
nearest to the Celestial." The
form of this word would seem to
suggest a Tamitic etymology, akin,
perhaps, to the Hebrew word KALAB,
a dog; whence, possibly, Sirius, the
Dog-star, so called. According to
the further explanation, it gives
light to the sun and other bodies,
through the medium of 2 2 and 2 3,
which are called, collectively, Hah-
ko-kau-beam. This curious word is
also Hebrew, although judging from
the spelling, the pronunciation is ex-
pressed, rather than the direct trans-
literation. It is the Hebrew, KOKOB, a
star, KOKOBIM, stars; the syllable
HAH, representing the definite arti-
cle, whence, "the stars."
By a similar line of argument, as al-
ready noted in the quotation from
Prof. Petrie, the figure marked 2 may
also be found to indicate the sun, or
a sun, also having his rising and
setting. Provided that this body be
visible from the earth, or any other
planet, for that matter, the statement
is obviously correct. On the whole, the
inclusion of two separate figures, each
evidently indicating a sun, may be
held to imply that they are too sepa-
rate bodies, which is what is stated
in the explanation given by Joseph
Smith.
The figure marked 5 is called in the
Book of Abraham caption, "one of
the governing planets .... said
by the Egyptians to be the sun." The
agreement among Egyptologists is
that it represents the "cow of Hathor,"
which identification is evidently based
on the assumption, as above noted,
that the hypocephalus originated in
obedience to the directions of the
Book of the Dead specifying an amulet
for the dead shaped like a cow. By
itself, this figure might be held to
signify any one of several different
possible symbols. In juxtaposition with
the four Canopic Gods (6) in front,
and the curious figure, apparently
feminine, to the rear, there is a strong
suggestion of a mystic group appear-
ing in several papyri of the Book of
the Dead. In this group as shown, for
example in the Papyri of Ani and of
Henefer, the UZAT eye, the eye of
Horus, is mounted on a pedestal im-
mediately in front of the recumbent
figure of "the great cow Mehurit, the
Eye of Ra." To the rear of Mehurit,
again, is a group showing the Canopic
Gods standing at the four corners of
a tomb, or funeral chest, from which
emerges the form of the divine Ra,
holding the ANKH, the symbol of life,
in each hand. Undoubtedly, the group
thus described shows the sun under
three different mythological, or
esoteric, similitudes. In the present dia-
gram the UZAT eye serves as the entire
face of the female figure standing be-
hind the cow, which, in turn, looks to-
ward the Canopic Gods.
In the curious symbolism of the an-
cient Egyptians some phase of sun lore
seems to emerge from benlnd nearlv
every one of their greatest gods. Con-
sidering their pantheon as a finished
w^hole, it may be said that they wor-
shipped the sun under manifold forms,
and that they worshipped a mysterious
hidden supreme God through the visi-
ble medium of the sun. Thus, Ra and
Horus both indicate the sun. Horus
is the youthful or rising sun. also the
sky, as previously suggested. He is,
mythologically speaking, distinct from
Ra, who is generally considered as the
446
IMPROVEMENT ERA
Sun God proper. As the sky god,
Horus is represented as saying in a
certain ritual hymn, "I am Horus, and
I come to search for mine eyes." In
a similar poem, he is paid to regain
his eye, the sun, at the dawn of day.
The Goddess Hathor also figures in
the sun cycle as the sky at dawn,
from which association is derived her
character as the Goddess of love and
beauty— she is known to the Hebrew
Scriptures as Ashtoreth. Her original
form seems to have been that of a cow,
the memory of which was always re-
tained in the horns shown on her
coiffure or head dress. The heifer
Mehurit, or Mehurt, is sometimes iden-
tified with the cow Hathor, sometimes,
with Noot, who, as already explained,
is often represented in the form of a
cow. In both cases the cow is said to
represent the sky at dawn, when the
sun is born of his mother Noot; or
else "that part of the sky where the
sun is;" hence, by no very remote fig-
ure, the sun himself. In brief, this
figure, "is said by the Egvptlans to be
the sun."
The group marked 6 evidently pic-
tures the four Canopic Gods, the chil-
dren of Horus, who, as already stated,
represent the four cardinal points. The
sole difference between this statement
and that given in the Book of Abra-
ham caption, "represents the earth in
its four quarters," is precisely the dif-
ference between moving around an
arc on the circumference of a circle
and cutting across a chord.
The figure marked 4 in the plate is
explained as the "expanse, or the
firmament of the heavens." Com-
menting on a precisely similar retire
on a hypocephalus described and fig-
ured in his "Abydos," Prof. Petrie
calls it "Horus." In the Spalding
pamphlet, however, Prof. von. Bissing
identifies it with "the God Sokar in
the Sacred Boat" (misprinted "Book").
Both identifications have good author-
ity. If it is Horus, however, the case
is clear; if Sokar, we must inquire re-
garding his 'history and significations.
Sokar, Sokaris or Seker was a very
ancient deity, "of whom very little is
known, except when in combination
with others." Prof. Adolf Erman
("Handbook of the Egyptian Religion")
calls him "the ancient Memphite god
of the dead." Broderick and Morton
("Dictionary of Egyptian Archaeol-
ogy") state that, "he was the sun
god at one time, and his emblem (a
sparrow hawk) was carried around at
festivals in the sacred bark called
HENNU. The great festival of So-
karis was held at Memphis in con-
nection with the winter solstice. To
him, it seems, especially belonged the
fourth and fifth hours of the night,
through which Ra, the Sun, nightly
passed on his journey from sunset to
dawn. He is represented as a mummy
with a hawk's head." Easily the most
familiar form of Sokar is in the triune
deity, Ptah-Seker-Ausar (Osiris), thu
god of the resurrection, who seems to
have combined the attributes of the
ancient gods, Ptah and Seker, with
those of Osiris. Ptah is an ancient
form of the supreme god of the Egyp-
tians. Sokar himseir, like Horus,
seems to be the god of the sun or of
the sky, or firmament, both material
and eternal.
Whether, or not, this figure indicates
any particular god or sacred symbol of
the divine is eveidently uncertain. "We
may assert, however, that the boat is
merely the "sky-boat" of sun and
moon deities in general, while, except
for the spread wings, the bird figure
closely approximates the hieroglyphic
ideogram for birds in general. That it
indicates sme reference to the sky, or
the "expanse of the heavens," is evi-
dent.
The explanation of this figure 4 adds
further, "also a numerical figure in
Egyptian, signiying one thousand." It
is a curious fact that one having "no
connection with .... European
scholars" should have suspected that
any numeral whatever was indicated
by this figure. It is well to note, how-
ever, that the "HENNU" boat indi-
cates a million, a million years, rather
than a thousand.
The explanation of the figure
marked 7 is given in the words, "rep-
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR"
447
resents God sitting upon his throne,
also the sign of the Holy
Ghost in the form of a dove." The
analysis of this group is very nearly
the most interesting of any on the en-
tire plate. In virtually all "hypo-
cephali" examined the space corre-
sponding to this group is occupied
by a seated winged figure, before
which, in general, stands the phallic
serpent "Nehebka," as already sug-
gested, holding the UZAT eye in out-
stretched hands. The figure called
"Nehebka," however, is radically dif-
ferent from the one shown in the
present plate, the only common point,
in addition to the position, is the sa-
cred eye held before the face of the
seated figure. In another point this
group differs from other"hypocephali"
examined, and that is in the presence
of the prayer table here shown. This
sign, a table surmounted by suppli-
cating or adoring hands and arms,
is always the sign of the presence of
God, or of a god.
The group shown in the common
run of hypocephali is evidently en-
tirely phallic, the seated figure being
usually identified with the dual god,
Horus-Min, who, in certain local cults,
combines the offices and functions of
Horus and a deity known as Min.
This latter was, according to Egyptol-
ogists, originally a local god of the
desert, and of strangers, in general.
He is also identified with a deity called
Amsu. By other, or later, ascriptions,
he becomes identified with the creative
principle of nature, or the universal
generative power typified in phallic
symbols. In this matter we may un-
derstand his partial, or occasional,
identification with Amen-Ra, the su-
preme god, the Creator, according to
the theology resulting from the recog-
nition and assimilation of the Theban
deity Amen (Ammon or Amun).
Whence, some authorities have called
this seated figure Horammon (Horus-
Ammon).
There may be allowed to be a differ-
ence of opinion, as to whether the
group shown here is the original form,
or whether it is merely a variation of
the usual, as shown on the common
hypocephalus. There is, however, no
obvious reason for changing from
the phallic to the non-phallic charac-
ter, it" we consider this only one of a
genera] run of Egyptian documents.
On the other hand, there is a very
good and sufficient reason for making
the change from such a group as this
to the phallic character, if the inter-
pretation offered by Joseph Smith is in
any sense correct. Smith called this
seated figure "God sitting upon his
throne," hence the Creator of the uni-
verse. According to tne conception
evidently held by him, and, presum-
ably also, by the original compiler of
this group, the Almighty Creator oper-
ates by virtue of a word of power.
To the Egyptian artist, the symbol of
creative power is the phallic symbol.
Hence, knowing, perhaps, that this
group represented God, he embel-
lished it according to one of the most
popular of Egyptian concepts, relating
to the beginnings of things. The fa-
miliar variation of this group adds
strong presumption in favor of the
description given in Smith's caption.
The presence of the UZAT eye in
this group is also interesting. It is
probably the commonest of all Egyp-
tian symbols, both as a familiar ele-
ment in sacred pictures and sculp-
tures, also as an amulet for the dead
and the living. Originally, of course,
it indicates the sun, which is often
described as the "eye of Ra," etc., as
already suggested. In this sense, by a
poetic figure, understoood literally, it
is also the eye of God, the all-seeing
eye. Consequently, as this "divine
eye" (the sun) is the most evident
proof of God's presence, both phys-
ically and spiritually, its image is the
most logical reminder of Him. Be-
cause of this, perhaps, the image of
the divine eye came into almost uni-
versal use as an amulet, and was be-
lieved to be effective, not only in
warding off evils and mishaps of vari-
ous kinds, but also as indicating good
gifts and good wishes in general. For
this latter reason, this symbol came
to be known as the UZAT eye, which
is to say the eye of all that is
"healthy" and "nourishing;" for such
448
IMPROVEMENT ERA
is the meaning of this word in the
Egyptian language. The eye offered,
as in the group under consideration,
to an image of deity, may indicate
either a gift of all good things by
ascription through this their type, or
merely as an ideogram of divine at-
tributes.
We may see, therefore, that this
group certainly represents "God sitting
upon his throne," because it represents
God as a Creator, which is evidently
what the Egyptians understood it to
signify, when they varied it, as al-
ready shown. The conventional rep-
resentation of a throne is shown in
this group, as also in Fig. 3, where it
is mounted on the boat.
This brings us to a consideration of
Pig. 3, which is explained as "made to
represent God sitting upon his throne,
clothed with power and authority;
with a crown of eternal light upon his
head: representing also the srand key-
words of the Holy Priesthood.'' As to
how this figure represents the^e sa-
cred "keywords" must he. of course,
a matter hidden from the uninformed.
Regarding the other statements, how-
ever, several very happy coincidences
are to be found.
According to Dr. A. M. Dythsroe, as
reported in the NEW YORK TIMES
interview, "The representation is the
most common of all in Egyptian pa-
pyri. It is the view of the sun god
in his boat. The 'Mormon' version is
right in that this is tne picture of a
god. but it is the chief god of a
polytheistic people, instead of the God
who was worshipped by monotheistic
Abraham, and pictures of him were
among the widely distributed pictures
in Egypt."
The article then proceeds to animad-
vert on the Prophet's explanations for
presenting no translations of the hiero-
glyphics in this chart, remarking that
this shows "that at times the divine
power . . . left him." It then con-
tinues: "The things that puzzled the
inspired 'Mormon' translator were no
puzzle at all to Dr. Lythgoe. They
were simply snatches of a hymn to the
Sun god inserted on every flat disk
that was put, for its magical effect as
a charm, under the head of the ordi-
nary mummy."
It may be that Dr. Lythgoe is able
to translate the hieroglyphics on this
disk, although he has favored us with
none of the "snatches." However, his
remarks on "monotheistic Abraham"
are scarcely applicable, since, as any
reader of the Book of Abraham can
readily perceive, it does not inculcate
the variety of monotheism which de-
nies the existence of "other gods." A
large part of it, in fact, is devoted to a
version of the creation story, in which,
following the Hebrew usage of a plural
noun (ELOHIM) for the word usually
translated "God." the creation of the
earth and its inhabitants is attributed
to "the gods."
The figure seated in the HENNU
Boat, crowned with the disk of the sun,
is usually identified with Ra, the Su-
preme God, who was worshiped
through the symbol of the sun. In his
boat, called the "Bark of Millions of
Years," meaning, perhaps, of eternity,
he floats daily across the sky, crowned
with the glory of the everlasting sun.
Of this conception of God, Dr. Budge
says:
"Ra was the name given to the sun
by the Egyptians in a remote antiquity,
but the meaning of the word, or the at-
tribute which they attributed to the sun
by it, is unknown. Ra was the visible
emblem of God, and was regarded as
the god of this earth, to whom offerings
and sacrifices were made daily; and
when he appeared above the horizon at
the creation, time began. In the pyra-
mid texts the soul of the deceased
makes its way to where Ra is in heav-
en, and Ra is entreated to give it a
place in the 'fcark of millions of years,'
wherein he sails over the sky. . . .
In his daily course he vanquished night,
and darkness and mist and cloud dis-
appeared from before his rays. Subse-
quently the Egyptians invented the
moral conception of the sun, represent-
ing the victory of right over wrong and
of truth over falsehood."
An investigation of the God Ra, his
attributes and the hymns addressed to
him, seems to furnish a strong confirm-
ation in point for the remark of Prof.
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR"
449
Rawlinson ("Religions of the Ancient
World") that, "Altogether the theory to
which the facts on the whole point is
the existence of a primitive religion
communicated to man from without,
whereof monotheism and expiatory sac-
rifice were parts, and the gradual
clouding over of this primitive religion
everywhere."
This conclusion is further reinforced
by such a hymn as the following, ad-
dressed to the Sun God in the form of
Amen-Ra, and quoted by Dr. Budge
from the collections of Gebaut and
Wiedemann. It is also in point in this
connection, since one of our critics has
declared the text of this disk to include
passages from such a hymn. We may
learn here the kind of hymns the Egyp-
tians composed and sang to their God.
"Adoration to thee. O Amen-Ra, the
bull of Annu, the Ruler of all the gods,
the beautiful and beloved god. who
givest life by means of every kind of
food and fine cattle.
"Hail to thee, O Amen-Ra, Lord of
the world's throne. . . . The King of
Heaven and Sovereign of the earth,
thou Lord of things that exist;
thou Stablisher of Creation; thou
Supporter of the Universe. Thou art
one in thine attributes among the
gods, thou Beautiful Bull of the com-
pany of the gods; thou Chief of all
Gods; Lord of Truth (Maat); Father
of the gods; Creator of men; Maker of
beasts and cattle; Lord of all that
existeth; Maker of the staff of life;
Creator of the herbs which give life to
beasts and cattle Thou art
the Creator of all thina-s celestial and
terrestrial: thou illuminest the uni-
verse. . . . The gods cast themselves
at thy feet when they perceive thee.
Hymns of Praise to thee, O
Father of the gods, who hast spread
out the heavens and laid down the
earth, . .. thou Master of eterni-
ty and everlastingness. . . .
Hail to thee, O Ra. Lord of Truth.
Thou art hidden in thy shrine, Lord of
the gods. Thou art the morning (Khe-
phera) in thy bark, and when thou
sendest forth the word the gods come
into being. Thou art the Evening
(Tmu), the Maker of beings which
have reason, and, however many be
their forms, thou givest them life, and
thou dos*. distinguish the shape and
stature of each from his neighbor.
Thou nearest the prayer of the afflict-
ed, and thou art gracious unto him
that crieth unto thee; thou deliverest
the feeble one from the oppressor, and
thou judgest between the strong and
the weak. . . . Thou only form, the
Maker of all that is, One only, the Cre-
ator of all that shall be. Mankind
hath come forth from thine eyes, the
gods have come into being at thy
word. Thou makest tne herbs for the
use of beasts and cattle, and the staff
of life for the need of man. Thou giv-
est life to the fish of the stream and
to the fowl of the air, and breath to
the germ in the egg; thou givest life
creep, and things that fly, and every-
thing that belongeth thereunto. Thou
providest food for the rats in the holes,
and for the birds that sit among the
branches, . . . Thou One, thou Only
One, whose arms are many. All men
unto the grasshopper, and thou makest
to live the wild fowl, and things that
and all creatures adore thee, and
praises come unto thee from the
height of heaven, from earth's widest
space and from the depths of the sea,
. . . thou One, thou Only One, who
hast no second, whose names are mani-
fold and innumerable."
This is the line of ascriptions which
the Egyptian* made to the God, who.
as we are informed, Joseph Smith er-
roneously identified with the Almighty.
There can be no doubt but that he
made an unusually happy guess in this
matter. A Being described, as in the
above hymn, could very probably be
held to "represent also the grand key-
words of the Holy Priesthood." In
deed, if some of the sacred words do
not occur in such a hymn as this, there
are certainly close analogues of several
of them. Could Joseph Smith really
read these "snatches of a hymn to the
sun god," and was it, for this reason,
that he identified their object with the
Almighty?
However, upon the popular notion
that, despite the lofty sentiments of
such hymns, the "chief god of a poly-
theistic people" must ever be some
450
IMPROVEMENT ERA
person quite other than the One God of
the Bible, or of "monotheism," the fol-
lowing remarks of Prof. Budge seem
quite pertinent:
"Looking at the Egyptian words in
their simple meaning, it is pretty cer-
tain that when the Egyptians declared
that their God was one and that he
had no second, they had the same ideas
as the Jews and Muhammedans, when
they proclaimed their God to be 'one'
and alone. (Deut. vi: 5; iv: 35; Isaiah
xlv: 5.) It has been urged that the
Egyptians never advanced to pure
monotheism, because they never suc-
ceeded in freeing themselves from the
belief in the existence of other gods,
but when they say that a god has
'no second,' even though they men-
tion other 'gods,' it is quite evident
that, like the Jews, they conceived
him to be an entirely different being
from the existences, which, for want
of a better word, or because these pos-
sessed superhuman attributes, they
named 'gods.' "
The truth of this line of reasoning
may be shown by simple reference to
the Old Testament, from which and
the Christian Scriptures, nearly all the
grand ascriptions of the above hymn
may be reproduced. From among such
passages we may select at random:
Deut. x: 17; II Chron. ii: 5; Psa. lxxxii:
1; lxxxvi: 8; xcvii: 9; cxxxvi: 2.
FAC-SIMILE NO. 3.
It is now in order to turn to the con-
sideration of the third plate of the
series usually included with the text of
the Book of Abraham. According to
the descriptive caption, it represents
"Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh's
throne. . . reasoning upon the prin-
ciples of astronomy in the king's
court.'' Not so, say our critics, who
identify the scene with some traditional
representation of Osiris and Isis in the
World of the Dead. "The Goddess Maat
leading the Pharaoh before Osiris,"
says Dr. Sayce. "The dead person be-
fore the judgment seat of Osiris," says
Dr. Petrie. "The God Osiris enthroned
at the left, . . . before him three fig-
ures. The middle one, a man, led . . .
by the Goddess Truth, who grasps his
hand," says Dr. Breasted. " The God-
dess Maat (Truth) is introducing the
dead (5) and his shadow (6) before
Osiris," says Dr. von Bissing.
As in the discussion of the other
plates of this series, it would be futile
to begin with a challenge or contradic-
tion of the opinions of these scholars,
which are evidently expressed in all
honesty, and are certainly founded on a
basis of accurate information on mat-
ters Egyptian. We must admit the close
resemblance of the seated figure to the
traditional representations of Osiris,
wearing the double plumed crown, and
holding the flail, or scourge, and the
hook, or crook, in either hand. The
figures before and behind him also
closely suggest the goddesses mentioned
by our critics. Nevertheless, there are
several things to be said in regard to
this scene, which should import a
strong presumption of uncertainty, at
least, as to the finality of the above-
quoted opinions.
In the first place, the scene differs in
several important details from the com-
mon run of representations of Osiris
judging the dead. In the Book of the
Dead, the scene habitually contains
other figures, each of which has some
special and particular part in the award
of justice, or the administration of con-
sequent blessings or penalties. Prom-
inent among these is the pair of scale*
in which the heart, or conscience, of the
deceased is weighed against the weight
of truth or righteousness, often repre-
sented by the feather of Maat. Anubis
I'sually superintends this test, the rec-
ord of which is made by the ibis-headed
Thoth, the god of metes and bounds.
Another, figure proper to this scene is
that of Amemit, the Devourer, the
"Eater-up of souls," who is represented
as an incongruous monster of the fe-
male sex, having the head of a croco-
dile, the fore-quarters of a lion or pan-
ther, and the hind-quarters of a hippo-
potamus. This hideous Frankenstein of
the Netherworld typifies the eternal
terrors awaiting evil-doers. Further-
more, not alone Isis — she is often ac-
companied by Nephthys— assists Osiris
in rendering judgment, but the company
of the "forty-two judges of the dead"
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR'
451
also appears, drawn usually on a frieze
above the main scene. The Canopic
Gods also appear frequently, their fav-
orite place being upon the open petals
of a lotus flower, placed directly in
front of Osiris.
Although the Book of the Dead, the
typical mortuary ritual work of the
Egyptians, presents few variations
from the particulars of the judgment
scene, as noted above, there are varia-
tions in some other books of the same
import, particularly in later ages.
Among such latter may be mentioned
the papyrus, or Kerasher, or Kersher —
containing the so-called "Book of
Breathings." This papyrus, published
in facsimile by the British Museum,
shows the deceased Kerasher, he was
evidently a negro, whose woolly hair is
prominently shown, led before Osiris by
the jackal-headed Anubis, and followed
by a figure described as "Maat," which
shoves the head of a hare, or some an-
imal of similar visage. The space usual-
ly given to the weighing scene is in
this picture occupied by a large square
mass, evidently a bale of votive offer-
ings, flowers, etc., representing, per-
haps, the good deeds of the man now
before the bar of judgment. This varia-
tion of the judgment scene may be
typical of some modification of ideas
"ii the matter, and, according to ac-
counts, has several close analogues in
ether papyri.
Besides the judgment scene, the Book
of the Dead frequently shows the de-
ceased, after acquittal, purged of all
guilt and blame, brought again before
Osiris, king of the dead, to whom he
offers -adoration and thanksgiving. In
s ch scene, however, he is usually ac-
companied by but one guide or sponsor,
although there are variations in this, as
in other matters. That the scene under
consideration represents the adoration
'of Osiris, rather than the judgment,
seems to be the opinion of Dr. E. A. W.
Budge of the British Museum, who "in
a letter to Dr. Henry Woodward, dated
in 1903, says: "Adoration of Osiris by
some deceased person. It is a falsified
ropy." Undoubtedly, he notes some of
the radical variations in this scene from
the common practice of Egyptian art-
ists, who were ever most particular to
maintain truthfulness in pose and de-
tail, whatever variation of idea their
work may have expressed.
On any assumption, however, this
picture differs from familiar scenes of
the judgment or adoration in one or
two notable particulars. It may be as-
serted with reasonable confidence that
in neither case, as shown in familiar
papyri, does the "deceased' advance
with the confident assurance evidently
depicted in the pose of Pig. 5. The de-
ceased is led to judgment in pose much
resembling that of any prisoner brought
before the bar of a "court of competent
jurisdiction." He attempts no saluta-
tion of the judge, but stands, arms and
hands down, as if awaiting the results
nf the assize with proper anxiety. Even
Kerasher, despite the huge bale of of-
ferings, seems diffidently uncertain that
he will' be counted worthy to be called
the justified in Osiris." In the adora-
tion, also, the deceased makes his salu-
tation humbly and with reverence, often
with bent body. If he ever comes into
the Presences, stalking confidently, like
"Shulem, one of the King's principal
waiters" (courtiers?), the papyrus so
showing him has not been included in
published collections.
The figure shown here is probably
making a salutation of some kind, but
evidently not of the kind usually due
from mortals to the gods who hold the
balances of eternal weal or woe. The
peculiar headgear is another element
of variation. It is very doubtful if any
genuine judgment or adoration scene
shows the deceased crowned or hatted
before the Judge of Amenti. There
every pose of body and every detail of
dress suggest humility abased and un-
adorned.
The figure marked 6 is another diffi-
culty in the present plate. This is at-
tested by the testimonies of the author-
ities quoted in the Spalding pamphlet,
who differ widely, even radically, in
their judgments. Thus, Prof. Petrie
calls it "the God Anubis." Dr. Breasted
says, "the head probably should be
that of a wolf or jackal, but ... is
here badly drawn." Prof von Bissing
sees here "the d'-ad (5) and his shadow
452
IMPROVEMENT ERA
(6),'' but adds, "6 only may be inter-
preted in different ways, but never as
Smith did." Dr. Lythgoe, as quoted in
the NEW YORK TIMES, opines that
this figure represents a priest, judging
from his shaven head, as compared
with the wigs commonly shown on
gods and deceased; also, that the black
color of this figure reproduces the red
shade given to male persons in Egyptian
paintings, the women being colored in
light yellow. This statement is made
in spite of the fact that a priest, sel-
dom if ever, evidently appears- in either
the judgment or adoration scenes be-
fore Osiris.
The criticisms of the Egyptologists
quoted above must be considered with
the respectful attention always due
to the opinions of competent schol-
ars; but, like the judgments noted in
connection with the first plate, they
evidently derive most of their weight
from the assumption that these plates
come from, and belong in, the Book of
the Dead, as Dr. Meyer does not hesi-
tate to state, or in some other mor-
tuary document. As a matter of fact,
no such figure as 6 appears in any pa-
pyrus of the Book of the Dead that
has been published in facsimile, or
shown in American museums. The
dress suggests that it is a male fig-
ure, but by the same token, it con-
stitutes an extremely unusual repre-
sentation of Anubis, or of any other
male deity commonly present in such
scenes. The priestly character might
be admissible, but not, properly, in
the confines of the Osirian court. The
pose, also, is most unusual, to say the
least. It may be safe to assert, on
the basis of the facts just noted, that,
if this plate be considered to be in
anything like the original form, and
if it be insisted that it represent one
of the usual run of scenes showing
the deceased before Osiris, it departs
sufficiently far from the usual reverent
and consistent presentation to be
classed as the veriest caricature. If
it does not represent any such scenes,
this judgment must of course be modi-
fied accordingly.
Without attempting any further in-
terpretation of the plate, or hazarding
any further guess on what it may rep-
resent, it would seem safe to say that
the resemblances to usual Osirian
scenes end with figures 5 and 6. The
best available refuge of a critic of Jo-
seph Smith's interpretation lies, there-
fore, in the statement of Dr. Budge
that this is "a falsified copy." There
is one difficulty with this assumption,
however, and that is that such falsi-
fication as may be consistently sus-
pected— quite entirely in the construc-
tion of figures 5 and 6, if we leave out
of account the sundry other matters
already noted — is all in minor matters,
and not at all in the interest of ren-
dering the group more consistent with
the explanations offered in regard to
it. The strong suspicion of femininity
adhering to fig. 4 could haidly have
escaped any observer. Consequently,
the presumable changes of 5 and 6 from
the usual must appear unspeakably
stupid, when this one is left untouched.
The inference is reasonably strong,
then, that these plates must have come
to the hands of Joseph Smith in the
form shown at the present time, with
such allowances as may reasonably be
made, of course, for inaccuracy of
drawing in the' process of transference
to the printing blocks.
In regard to the caption of this plate
another interesting situation occurs.
In the first place, the incident pre-
sumably depicted is not mentioned in
the text of the Book of Abraham, so
far, at least, as it has been given to
the world. The scene might logically
seem to depict "Abraham brought be-
fore Pharaoh;" "Abraham preaching,
or expounding, before Pharaoh," or, in
view of the mention of '"Joseph of
Egypt" in Joseph Smith's account of
the translation of these papyri, "Jo-
seph interpreting Pharaoh's Dream."
That none of these explanations is
chosen, but rather one referring to the
unfamiliar and undescribed scene in-
dicated in the caption must excite sur-
prise, if the assumption be made that
both book and captions were "made
from the whole cloth."
The explanation inevitably occurring
to a believer in the work and mission
of Joseph Smith is that both plates and
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR'
453
descriptions came to him in the man-
ner set forth in his account, and that
such "inconsistencies" and "inaccur-
acies,"' as have been noted by our
critics, originated in a day far prior
to Smith's lifetime. Such a person
would explain these slips, provided he
were willing- to discuss them at all,
by a line of reasoning precisely similar
to that suggested in connection with
plate 1, an easily explainable, and
readily imaginable, scribal confusion
beween this scene, presumably de-
scribed in the text of the complete
book, with which it is associated, with
certain more familiar scenes of the
varieties discussed above. Thus, the
seated figure, stated to represent Abra-
ham, becomes closely approximated to
the general traditional appearance oe
Osiris, and sundry other changes are
made, as it were, "to confound the
wise." Thus we may venture an ex-
planation of the "falsified copy."
Whatever may be said of the fore-
going suggestions, it seems not too
much to sav that the "other side,"
which we have tried to present, will
demand some consideration from can-
did minds. This is particularly prob-
able, in view of the fact, already
demonstrated, that Joseph Smith cer-
tainly "guessed" the meaning of tht.
majority of the figures shown in these
plates, as already discussed, and, that
"his ability to do so had no connec-
tion with the decipherment of hiero-
glyphics bv European scholars." Fur-
thermore, several notable examples of
the same ability to interpret symbolic
meanings exist in the third plate also.
In this third platt, speaking of Fig.
1, which he identifies with Abraham,
he says, "with a crown upon his head,
representing the Priesthood, as em-
blematical of the grand Presidency in
Heaven, with the sceptre of justice
and judgment in his hand." How
could this crown represent the "Priest-
hood," or emblem +he "Presidency in
Heaven?" Probably by indicating the
qualities characterizing them. The
crown is probably the "PSHENT," or
double crown of the two Egypts, or
perhaps only the crown of Lower
Egypt. In either case the clear sig-
nificance is AUTHORITY and POW-
ER. The plume at either side typifies
TRUTH, JUSTICE, RIGHT, LAW,
and, as such, became the symbol tra-
ditionally associated with Maat the
Goddess of Truth, etc. The plume was
chosen for this significance by the
Egyptians, because of the tradition
that all the feathers of an ostrich aie
of the same length, hence, justly and
equably measured. It is respectfully
submitted for determination, whether
the qualities of AUTHORITY and
TRUTH fully represent the priest-
hood, or emblem the governance of
God.
If this plate, like the first, is after
Hie "manner of . . . hieroglyphics,"
which is to say, symbolic still other
(symbols are found correctly inter-
preted. For example, the "scepter or
justice and ;"udgment" is mentioned.
So far as one can determine, the seated
figure, like Ojiris, Horus, and others
shown in Egyptian pictures is repre-
sented holding the flail or scourge in
one hand, and the .-ook. or crook, in
the other. These have been called the,
"emblems of sovereignty and power."
However, the king or god so holding
them shows 'hereby that he is tne
punisher of the wicked, as with the
scourge, r.nd the shepherd of the
righteous. His office is shown to con-
sist, therefore, in thj exercise ot
JUSTICE, on the one hand, and of
JUDGMENT, or righteous authority,
protecting the good and law-abiding,
on the other. Is this another good
guess?
Regarding the figure marked 3 the
explanation, "signifies Abraham in
Egypt" is somewhat incomprehensible
at first glance. It is evidently a simple
offering table for holding fruit, flower
and food offerings, and is a familiar
figure in ZJgyotian art. Thus, we find
it called "the stand of offerings with
lotus flowers" (Petrie); "a lotus-
crowned standard bearing food"
(Breasted); "an offering table" (Von
Bissing). Although these statements
of our Egyptologists are correct be-
yond question, we are concerned with
the symbolic meaning after the "man-
ner of ... hieroglyphics," and,
454
IMPROVEMENT ERA
seeking for this, we And some things
not mentioned by our critics.
The offering table has its significance
in hieroglyphic writing, as both a
"phonogram," or indicator of sound
not spelled in letters, and as an "ideo-
gram," or sign indicating an idea, in-
dependent of words, or in connection
with spelled words. Its pnonographic
significance, as given by modern
Egyptologists, is either HAU-T or
HAWT, in which the A indicates a
breathing similar to the Hebrew
ADEPH, the first sign of the alpha-
bet, which may indicate, not only "a"
but also any other vowel or semi-
vowel whatever, according to pointing
or usage. Champollion's grammar
transliterates this sign with EIEBT.
As an ideogram this figure signifies
the "Orient," the "East."
The flowers shown upon the table
closely resemble those shown in the
conventional cluster, which constitutes
the familiar ideogram for Lower
Egypt.
We have, therefore, a figure closely
suggesting an association of Egypt
with some word or name indicated by
a combination of ALEPH and a labial
consonant (B or V), or else with the
Orient, from which, in relation to
Egypt, Abraham had come. The use
of "AB," "AV," "IB," or "IV," to in-
dicate Abraham is quite analogous to
the use of the familiar tri-grammator
IHS (Greek for IES) to indicate the
name "Jesus;" in both cases the first
syllable denotes the full name. In the
latter case the example is only one of
a -eneral run of instances in which
proper names and other words are ab-
breviated in Greek manuscripts.
Considered hieroglynhically, there-
fore, there is no doubt but what the
"lotus-crowned standard" may be in-
terpreted to signify "Egypt and the
Orient," or "Egypt and lb (raim), Iv
(raim), or Ab (ram)," quite as clearly
and certainly as it connotes the ac-
tual use to which it was devoted.
In view of the points above noted, it
seems safe to say that the assertion
made by one of our critics to the ef-
fect that "Smith . . . has misinter-
preted the significance of every one
figure" stands now with burden of
proof shifted to the shoulders of those
who reject him, both as a prophet of
God and even as a man of ordinary
honesty.
Comments on the Spaulding Pamphlet1
BY JOHN A. WIDTSOE, A. M., PH. D.
Rt. Rev. F. S. Spalding, D.D., Salt Lake
City, Utah.
My Dear. Dr. Spalding — The pressure
of official work has made it very dif-
ficult to find the time necessary to keep
my promise to give you my opinion of
your book, "Joseph Smith, Jr., As a
Translator." I have, however, read the
work several times and have given the
matter with which it deals consider-
able thought. In the hour at my dis-
posal I can only suggest some of the
many thoughts that have come as
I have followed your argument against
the correctness of Joseph Smith's in-
terpretation of the hieroglyphics print-
ed in the Pearl of Great Price.
I may as well say at once that I am
not convinced. Your argument has dis-
appointed me, for I had hoped to find
in your book an investigation that
would be worthy of the steel of "Mor-
monism." Instead, I have come to the
conclusion that you have only begun
the inquiry, which you announce has
been concluded.
Do not misunderstand me. You have
given your word that you are sincere
in this inquiry. That is enough. The
apparent unfairness on some of your
pages can well be charged to the aber-
rations of vision which beset every
person who takes sides on any ques-
tion.
Your title page is splendid. "Joseph
Smith, Jr., as a Translator. An Inquiry
* From the Desetet News of Jan. 11, 1913
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR'
455
Conducted by Rt. Rev. F. S. Spalding,
D.D., Bishop of Utah, with the kind as-
sistance of capable scholars." It is full
of promise. Especially do I like the
word "inquiry" in the sub-title, which
undoubtedly you are using in the scien-
tific sense. The word is one which has
become hallowed in the history of sci-
ence. The great masters who laid the
foundations of systematic knowledge
were wont to entitle the reports of
their classical investigations, patiently
and exhaustively carried on for years,
"An Inquiry" into this, that, or some
other, natural phenomenon. It is with
a feeling akin to reverence that I
peruse any "inquiry" made by a learned
man "assisted by capable scholars."
"Mormonism" has had so few inquiries
made into it in an unprejudiced, truly
scientific spirit, that the few that have
been made should receive respectful
attention.
Your dedication is equally good —
"To my many . Mormon friends — who
are as honest searchers after the truth
as he hopes he is himself — this book is
dedicated by the Author." The "Mor-
mon" has been so persistently viewed
through the eyes of narrow clerical pro-
judice, that it feels good to have a
leader of the cloth give "Mormons"
credit for being at least as honest as
are other people. I am a "Mormon" be-
cause I honestly believe "Mormonism"
to be true. There are some hundreds
of thousands who are equally honest in
their belief. Your admission of this
fact* puts us on a footing of equality
in the inquiry, the results of which
you are submitting to the world. I
thank you for the gracious words.
The thing in your dedication which
especially appeals to me, however, is
the statement that you and we, in this
investigation, are searchers after truth,
thereby confirming the opinion derived
from the title page, that this inquiry
is in reality an honest search after
truth— that it is to be thoroughly sci-
entific. Such inquiries are welcomed
by the Latter-day Saints; their sys-
tem of belief must stand every hon-
est test of truth. To you and to me,
truth is indeed "the sum of existence."
Before truth we stand with shoes re-
moved and heads uncovered.
The very first words in the text of
the book explain why the inquiry must
be an honest search after truth. "If
the Book of Mormon is true, it is next
to the Bible, the most important book
in the world." You later explain that,
according to your method of thinking,
if Joseph Smith interpreted the Egyp-
tian hieroglyphics in the Pearl of Great
Price correctly, the Book of Mormon
must be true; if incorrectly, must be
felse. "With such an important mat-
ter at stake, the inquiry certainly must
be an honest search, a thoroughly sci-
entific investigation, for if the trans-
lation is wrong, it means the salvation
from gross error of the half million
souls in the "Mormon" Church; if
right, the doubling of the holy books
of all Christendom.
THE ESSENTIAL QUESTION.
I shall not consider at all the ques-
tion whether your claim that one er-
ror in "Mormonism" makes the whole
erroneous. Some of my fellow-believ-
ers have already expressed themselves
vigorously on that point. The es-
sential question is: Did or did not
Joseph Smith translate the hieroglyph-
ics in the Pearl of Great Price correct-
ly? A fact is to be established. After
that has been done it may be time to
discuss the application of the fact. As
I understand your book, that was the
impelling motive in the inquiry.
I confess that your purpose thus
clearly s|hown appealed to me im-
mensely. To have a trained, capable
mind apply itself with all the resources
of the age, to a thoroughly scientific
examination of a point in "Mormon-
ism," put on edge my expectant appe-
tite. Why did you not carry out your
purpose? Can not a man carry to the
end an inquiry concerning "Mormon-
ism?" Instead of passing a direct
opinion on the book, let me express it
indirectly, in the form of some ques-
tions which I ask in all sincerity "as
an honest searcher after truth," and
in the hope that you may be persuad-
ed to continue the inquiry.
Why did you secure opinions from
eight men? Why not from eighty? This
is not a matter which has been exam-
ined and re-examined until settled be-
456
IMPROVEMENT ERA
yond dispute. As I remember I have
heard you say that you are not an
Egyptologist; neither am I. If, there-
fore, we are to rest our decided opin-
ions concerning Egyptology upon the
opinions of others, we should certain-
ly follow the statistical procedure and
reduce the probable error by bringing
in all the possible witnesses. True,
there is not an abundance of persons
who claim the ability to read Egyp-
tian hieroglyphics, but certainly many
scores are found in the countries of
the world. You have certainly used
the statistical method in a most un-
scientific manner.
I note with regret, also, an element
of haste in your important inquiry. It
was impossible to secure evidence from
Dr. Lythgoe because he was in Egypt.
Mails pass regularly between Utah and
Egypt .every few weeks. In my own
little correspondence I receive occa-
sional letters from diverse places in
Egypt, and we both have friends who
go from Utah to Egypt and back in a
few weeks. Haste is unscientific; the
masters of "inquiry" take their time;
what matters a year or two. if spent
in the interest of truth? Since you
decided to begin your inquiry by ask-
ing opinions, you greatly violated the
scientific method by asking only eight
— especially since the matter rested
largely on individual interpretations of
long-past days.
More surprising still is the fact that
you assume that the answers of eight
experts: would settle this tremendously
important question: The method of
ipse dixit, "I have said it, therefore it is
true," is not scientific. No reputable
man of science uses it. If a layman
desires some information on agricul-
tural chemistry he may put a question
to me and to other specialists, and if
he have sufficient confidence in our
soundness may govern his practices
accordingly. Similarly, if a layman
desires information concerning social-
ism he may apply to you and other ex-
pert students of the subject, and may
make your views his own. However,
the layman who thus secures informa-
tion by the easy method of asking of
convenient experts a few questions does
not write a book on agricultural chem-
istry or socialism. That is done, or
should be done, only by the man who
has by independent research made him-
self a specialist on the subject. Yet that
is precisely what you have done in thy
matter of Joseph Smith's translation
of the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The
method of the layman has been used
by you in reaching conclusions of the
specialists. In an inquiry defined as
an honest search after truth, conclu-
sions resting on such a method have
no value. You have forgotten, in a
scientific inquiry, to assure yourself
that your data are correct. If a man
of science should do such a thing he
would soon acquire the title of pseudo-
scientist. Why did you, a man trained
in the learning of the day, adopt an
unscientific method in a scientific
inquiry? Do you carry such reverence
for authority into all matter — say into
the higher criticism of the Bible? I
assure you that "Mormons," so fre-
quently charged with slavish obedi-
ence to authority, establish their faith
quite otherwise.
ACCElPTS DISCORDANT VIEWS.
It is yet mere surprising to note that
you accept the answers, obtained by
the faulty methods of the layman,
in the face of the patent fact that they
do not agree. Your attention has al-
ready been called to the disagreement
of the jury. It can not be denied ex-
cept by speciousness, and I believe you
will not do it. A layman, receiving
from experts discordant answers to
the same question, would simply be
confused and lay the matter by with
the thought that where the doctors dis-
agree there is no help for him. A
scientific inquirer, however, an hon-
est searcher after truth, would not
lose heart, but would set to work to
discover why there was disagreement,
whether it was apparent or real, and
if possible would dig out the truth. Why
did not you do this? Many books have
been written on Egyptology, by men
living and dead. Why were they not
examined to harmonize, if possible, the
discordant answers? The museums on
both sides of the water, as we have
both seen, are filled with papyri found
'•'JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR'
457
with mummies that might have beet,
examined to secure the counterparts of
Joseph Smith's "hieroglyphics."
Out of your own mouth is the state-
ment that this inquiry is in importance
next only to one concerning the truth-
fulness of the Eible, yet you dare draw
a final conclusion from an inquiry so
loosely conducted that I can hardly be-
lieve that you, with your training,
were really in charge. You remember,
no doubt, the accuracy, the painful ac-
curacy, with which the facts of science
are established. If the relative weight
of an atom of hydrogen is to be deter-
mined, a dozen men, in several coun-
tries, labor for years, with errors so
small as to make a speck of dust look
as large as a hill. The methods of the
higher critics— I speak of the big work
—are based upon the accurate study
of minute differences and similarities.
The earnestly scientific method of
higher criticism is, after all, the chief
reasons why the questionable conclu-
sions of the study have received such
wide acceptance among scholarly men
of your type. Yet in your own higher
criticism of Joseph Smith's powers as a
translator, north and south have ap-
parently pointed in one direction.
Did you not notice in the letters re-
ceived by you that some of the schol-
ars were unable to read the charac-
ters surrounding the main picture,
while one declares them to be the
usual funeral inscriptions? Did you
not know that M. Deveria seemed able
to decipher many of them? As a sci-
entific investigator, why did you not
satisfy yourself and us on this point?
The prints from the original wood cuts
may be obtained from The Times and
Seasons, numerous copies of which are
available. Did you examine these? If
you did not, and there is no evidence
in your book that you did, you violated
the method of science, and have dis-
credited your conclusions.
Moreover, I must ask you what you
would have us believe from the testi-
monial letters which are the only evi-
dence for your argument. For in-
stance, one cf the "capable scholars"
declares that the scene in Fig. 1 de-
picts the eml: aimer preparing the dead
body for mummification. It is agreed
that this scene occurs with thousands
of funeral papyri. Do you ask us to
believe that this representation was
made with trouble and expense simply
to perpetuate the method of embalm-
ing? That is. is it only a sort of
record whereby embalmers of future
years might acquire the modus oper-
andi of the business? If so, it ap-
pears to me to be fearfully mislead-
ing. No self-respecting corpse should
look so tremendously alive; and no
clever embalmer should hold his knife
so high in evident surprise. The no-
tion of course is preposterous. The
scene, naturally, is symbolical, as are
the other figures in question. What
do they symbolize — in essence? What
hope, fear, conviction, made it neces-
sary to place these representations
with the dead? Who is Osiris, from
the beginning, by the method of scien-
tific inquiry? What is the place of
Osiris in the theological system of an-
cient Egypt? Whence was the con-
ception of Osiris, and how did it change
through the years? Who and what
were Isis and Horus and all the other
gods of Egypt? Not by name and re-
lationship, but as expressing the
Egyptian's vision of the known ana
the unknown, the past, the present and
the hereafter? What is the mighty
symbolism of the writings of the dwell-
ers by the Nile, the shakers and the
makers of the empires of old? Did you
go into all this in your honest search
after a truth second only to the truth
of the Bible? Your correspondents
point out the shell of the thing, and
hardly that. To them, Fig. 1 is of the
embalmer at work, or of Osiris rising
from the dead; Fig. 2, a magical disk;
Fig. 3, the dead person appearing be-
fore Osiris or something similar, with
not a word of explanation. Joseph
Smith attempts the interpretation or
the symbolical meaning, and if his
translation of the hieroglyphics is read
in connection with the Book of Abra-
ham, a consistent beginning of explain-
ing the whole symbolical system of
Egypt is made. Why did you not ex-
amine the literature of this subject
458
IMPROVEMENT ERA
when you undertook this fundamental-
ly important inquiry.
INQUIRY SHOWN TO BE LOOSE.
In science, similarities are as Im-
portant as differences. Why is not a
word of comment ofterea on the strik-
ing- similarities between Joseph Smith's
version and those of your correspon-
dents, which have been publicly point-
ed out. to you? Again, the inquiry i»
shown to have been of the loosest sci-
ent'fic nature.
In yet another way does it seem to
me that you have grossly forgotten
the method of science in your study
of the "Mormon" Prophet's power of
translating Egyptian hieroglyphics.
You are an earnest follower of many
ot the higher critics. Your views of
the Bible are not those of the majority.
The evidences upon which you base
many of your views are of the internal
kind. The tricks of phrase and the
kind of imagery are means whereby
information concerning authorship and
date of composition is obtained. Why
was not this method employed in your
study of Joseph Smith as translator?
The hieroglyphics in question wero
merely incidents in the longer trans-
lation of the Book of Abraham. Why
was not this book carefully examined
for evidences to establish or over-
throw the claim to genuineness of the
translation of the hieroglyphics? A
complete scientific inquiry would not
fail to employ all the means by which
modern man ascertains truth, especial-
ly of a matter second only to one in
importance to the followers of Christ.
The omission of this test makes your
book appear still more unscientific.
Why did you so carefully avoid any
reference to the history of Egypt in its
relation to Semitic influences? You
must have noticed the possibility of
comparing the words of the Book of
Abraham with the views of many lead-
ing scholars? Did you note the ab-
surdity of the remark of one of your
scholars concerning "Joseph Smith's
monotheistic Abraham," in view of the
doctrines actually set forth in the Book
of Abraham? To omit any reference
to this great subject is anything but
scientific, if truth is desired.
Since the Book of Abraham is not
used at all in your argument, and
since you decided to institute an in-
quiry which should be an honest
search for truth, why did you preju-
dice your jury by sending to them the
Fearl of Great Price, as is evident from
several of the replies? According to
the method of science, every precau-
tion should be taken to prevent the
element of prejudice from entering the
observations sought. "Mormonism,"
thanks to the efforts of sundry mem-
bers of the Christian clergj , is not a
ropular system of theology. Egyptol-
ogists, even the most eminent, are
men of flesh and blood, and subject to
the common passions of the race. Why
did you not, in this day of photo-en-
graving, spend the dollar or two neces-
sary to secure cuts freed 'from the con-
text of the Pearl of Great Price? It
was not at all necessary, in a scientific
inquiry, to let the jury know the source
of the hieroglyphics; the question at
issue was simply the meaning of them.
The prejudicing of your witnesses, ac-
cidental as I hope it to have been, was
distinctly unscientific, and reduces
greatly the value of the testimony.
The letters themselves, with one or
two exceptions bear evidence of hav-
ing been thrown off lightly. They are
the letters hastily though courteously
dispatched, to correspondents of suf-
ficient importance, by busy men who
are anxious to get back to their work.
It was not to be expected that these
men, with only a most passing interest
in Joseph Smith, should do more. It
was your investigation, not theirs.
Meanwhile, not one of the letters is
a thoroughgoing statemenl concern-
ing the questions which you asked, and
which, peculiarly enough in a scientific
inquiry, you do not print. Your cor-
respondents give their offhand opin-
ions, no more. I am fairly sure that
none of them, were the facts set be-
fore him, would justify you in so un-
scientific a use as you have made of
their letters in this book, even concern-
ing so unpopular a subject ar> is "Mcr-
monism."
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR"
459
THE ATTITUDE OF THE JUDGES.
May I ask you further, why, in an
inquiry to be characterized by an hon-
est search after truth, you did not ca*ll
attention to the doubtful value of some
of the opinions received as evidenced
by the manifest prejudice and ill tem-
per of the authors? Do you think Dr.
Sayce was helping you in your honest
search after truth when he opened his
letter with the words, "It is difficult to
deal seriously with Joseph Smith's im-
pudent fraud?" Was he in a frame of
mind to render impartial judgment on
the subject? The spirit of this opening
sentence is not scientific, and evident-
ly it had not been impressed upon Dr.
Sayce that this inquiry was an honest
search after the truth of one of the
most vital matters before civilized
man. I assure you that the authors
of your letters were not half so much
amused at "Joseph Smith's impudent
fraud," as I was at the introduction of
such opinions as the foundations of an
important conclusion, into a book pro-
fessedly embodying the history and
findings of the scientific inquiry by a
man liberally trained in the learning
of the day.
The evening is closing. There are
many other thoughts that have oc-
curred to me, but which must be left
unwritten. I can only repeat that I
am unconvinced; and that your book,
as an honest search after truth by one
competent to conduct such an inquiry,
is extraordinarily unscientific. It is
not worthy of you. Tour plan is ex-
cellent, but your method so loose and
incomplete that your conclusion is un-
warranted. You, yourself, would be
the last to accept for yourself any con-
clusion based upon so rickety a meth-
od and so attenuated an evidence as
are found in your book on Joseph
Smith, Jr., as a tranr'ater. Why did
you perpetrate it upcn your "Mor-
mon" friends?
You declare that the subject is of
highest importance to all Christendom;
nevertheless you proceed tr. *ase your
conclusions on the opinion-, of eight
scholars, when scores are available;
you show an unscientific haste to get
into print; you accept without question
the authority of these men; you ignore
the radical differences in their opin-
ions; you fail to make the necessary
minute comparisons and bibliographi-
cal researches; you virtually deny the
symbolical meaning of all Egyptian fu-
neral inscriptions; you refrain from
mentioning the striking similarities be-
tween Joseph Smith's translation and
your eight opinions; you disregard the
possible internal evidences of the Book
of Abraham in support of the prophet's
translation; you are silent on the whole
vital matter of Egypt and Abraham;
you have prejudiced your witnesses,
though probably unintentionally; your
eight letters are not in the remotest
sense studies of the matter under con-
sideration; you have accepted at their
face value letters that are clearly
prejudiced and ill tempered. Were it
not that you have said otherwise, I
should be tempted to say from the in-
ternal evidences of the book, that you
prejudiced the case and wrote the con-
clusion before the investigation be-
gan.
These changes should be made in the
next edition of the book. On the title
page should be added the words "The
Plan and a Preliminary Study." On
pages 18 and 19, all words that convey
a conclusion should be eliminated. At
the end it should be stated that the
inquiry is being vigorously and scien-
tifically continued.
EVIDENCE OF PROPHET'S INSPIR-
ATION.
I trust you will receive this letter in
the spirit in which it is sent. You want
to know the truth; so do I. We want
frankness in criticism. Continue the
investigation in accordance with the
methods of science, with which youi
are so thoroughly familiar. Final re-
sults may come slowly if the inquiry is
carried on intensively, but as you have
yourself explained, it is quite worth
while.
Finally, permit me to say that, as a
young man, I gave long and careful
study to the books of Moses and Abra-
ham, as found in the Pearl of Great
Price, came out of the study with
a conviction that they were splendid
evidences of the divinity of the work
460
IMPROVEMENT ERA
of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Time
has not altered this view. Your book
has set me investigating the question
concerning the accuracy of the trans-
lation of the hieroglyphics incidentally
inserted with the Book of Abraham. As
far as I have gone in the study, I have
been happy to find that the evidence is
wonderfully in favor of Joseph Smith's
translation. I shall continue the study
in my occasional spare moments. To
me it is not a vital thing in "Mormon-
ism," but it is interesting, and I am
grateful to you for calling my attention
to it again. I have no fear of the out-
come when Joseph Smith is subjected
to scientific study — but the study must
be an "honest search after truth."
With best wishes, very sincerely
yours, JOHN A. WIDTSOE.
P. S. — I may send a copy of this let-
ter for publication to the editor of The
Deseret News, so that if it is published
it may serve as an 'answer to a num-
ber of people who have asked for my
views of your book.
Scientists Not Always Correct'
BY TUDGE RICHARD W. YOUNG.
Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 10, 1913.
Editor Deseret News:
The Right Rev. P. S. Spalding's will-
ingness to sacrifice "Mormonism" upon
the altar of scholarship is reminiscent
of Artemas Ward's willingness to sac-
rifice his wife's relations on thr, aitar
of patriotism.
I do not venture this comparison
flippantly, but with a sincere convic-
tion that neither of the churches of
Christendom, including the great or-
ganization of which Bishop Spalding
is a distinguished member, is willing
to submit to the determination of
scholars the authenticity of its claims
or the validity of any basic fact of its
creed. I am not ignorant that in the
conflict between science and theology
victory has usually perched uoon the
banners of the scientists; nor do I for-
get that the path along whicn science
has proceeded forth out of primitive
darkness into present-day light is
strewn with the skeletons of theories
once deemed imperishable and of fic-
tions once regarded as facts — ana no
one is so blind as not to be able to see
that the pathway of science extends
onward and upward into rea.ms of
positive knowledge, whose brightness
will cause the tallow dips of today's
speculations to pale into relative insig-
nificance. And it is because of such
considerations as these that the
'From the Deseret News, January 11, 1913.
churches now are and ever have been
unwilling to yield unreserved credence
to every decree of science, the instant
it is formulated.
The sciences of astronomy, chemis-
try, geology, zoology, medicine — in fact,
all — have frequently discarded theories
to adopt new ones. The Ptolemaic the-
ory that the earth was the center of
the universe very ingeniously explained
nearly all of the phenomena of the
heavens; and this theory was unques-
tioned for more than 1,500 years priot
to the time of Copernicus. It was saij
that "the wise are witnesses that the
heavens revolve in the space of 24
hours," and Copernicus was described
as a fool who "wishes to reverse the
entire science of astronomy" — but
Copernicus was right and the world,
scientific as well as religious, was
wrong.
Scientists once held that there were
but four elements, fire, earth, air and
water; but when I went to schoo:
chemistry taught as an ultimate and
incontestable fact that matter was di-
vided into some 60 odd distinct ele-
ments. It seems incredible that this
theory has perished, and that "the
tendency of all recent discoveries has
been to emphasize the truth of the
conception of a common basis of mat-
ter of all kinds." (Ency. Brit.)
The same eminent authority te'ls us
Published in the Era by permission of the Author.
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR'
461
concerning the dear old atomic theory,
upon which we of an older generation
were brought up, that "the atomic
theory has been of .priceless value to
chemists, but it has more than onev.-
happened in the history of science that
a hypothesis, after having been useful
in the discovery and the co-ordination
of knowledge, has been abandoned ana
replaced by one more in harmony with
later discoveries."
It would have been .scientific sacri-
lege not to have had implicit confidence
in the physicians of fifty years ago,
and yet they did not have the slightest
conception that the world was filled
with microscopic germs, the chief
sources of disease, and their annihila-
tion the chief hope for prevention and
cure. Our helpful friends, the doc-
tors, formerly starved where now they
feed, the typhoid patient, and back a
century or two ago bled patients for
nearly every disease — a practice not
only discarded but now held to be in-
defensible, even murderous.
This and many more instances, mod-
ern, medieval and ancient, might be
cited as a sufficient justification of the
caution and hesitancy with which re-
ligion accepts the conclusions of sci-
ence. The Christian Churches will not
accept the scientific dictum that there
is no personal God; nor any theory of
evolution which eliminates the creative
act; nor the scientific denial of mir-
acles, including the immaculate con-
ception and that great central fact
of Christianity, the resurrection of the
body of our Savior; nor philosophical
deductions as to the plan of salvation;
nor expert historical opinion as to the
authenticity of the books of Moses or
Daniel or the four gospels (though
clergymen here and there may be con-
verts to higher criticism), etc., etc.
I scarcely believe that either Cath-
olics or Protestants would be willing
to submit their respective claims to
the determination of historians, and
conceive that the Church of England
would not be willing to go out of busi-
ness upon the adverse determination
of eight or ten historians who might
be called upon to examine the claims
of that church to unbroken apostolic
succession; and I further venture the
suspicion that Bishop Spalding would
not be willing to yield acquiescence to
disinterested scholars respecting every
tenet of his faith. It was with such
considerations in mind that I suggest-
ed, in other words, at the beginning
of this communication that perhaps the
reverend bishop might not be willing
to have measured to Christianity in
general or to himself with what meas-
ure he meted to us.
Bishop Spalding asseverate?, that in-
asmuch as thinking and authoritative
scholars declare that Joseph Smith
translated certain hieroglpyhics incor-
rectly, "no thoughtful man can be
asked to accept the Book of Mormon,
but, on 1'ne other hand, honesty will
require him, with whatever personal
regret, to repudiate it and the whole
body of belief, which has been built
upon it and the reputation its publica-
tion gave to its author."
Despite the cocksureness of Bishop
Spalding, I cannot, because of the con-
siderations above mentioned and others
noted below, with such thoughtfulness
and honesty as I possess, accept the
bishop's conclusions.
However, in the controversy at issue,
we Latter-day Saints are not compelled
to rely entirely, as we may in consist-
.ency, upon the aforesaid and other gen-
eral considerations, but we feel that
we may urge special objections to
the evidences offered by the bishop in
support of his case, I shall not attempt
to point out the discrepancies among
the scholars cited by Bishop Spalding--
that has been dene by Elder B. H. Rob-
erts and others — further than to call
attention to the fact that these dis-
crepancies are quite numerous and in-
volve such diametrically conflicting-
translations as the version, on
the one hand, by Petrie and Peters
that plate No. 1 represents Anubis or
an embalmer preparing a body for
burial, and, on the other hand, the
statement of Breasted and Deveria that
the plate represents Osiris rising from
the dead. The jury palpably disagrees
and the indictment must either be dis-
missed or the defendants be granted a
new trial— surely the arbitrary conten-
462
IMPROVEMENT ERA
tion that every honest and thoughtful
man must vote for conviction, under
such circumstances, finds no analogy
in law or logic.
Being quite curious to ascertain just
why these students of Egyptology differ
among themselves, I consulted the lat-
est edition of the Encyclopedia Britan-
nica, and in the article on Egypt, page
58, found a statement prepared by an
Oxford professor, and presumably -a
student of the Rev. Prof. Sayce, which
seems to furnish a complete explana-
tion of these discrepancies, and at the
same time to deprive Bishop Spalding's
savants of the title to absolute and
incontestable verity which he ascribes
to them.
This is the statement (the cap-
itals being mine:
"At present Egyptologists depend on
Heinrich Bruegsch's admirable but
somewhat antiquated WORTBEBUCH
and on Levi's useful but entirely un-
critical VOCABULIARO. . . . Apart
from their philological interest, as giv-
ing' the state of a remarkable language
during a period of several thousand
years, the grammatical studies of the
last quarter of the nineteenth century
and afterwards are BEGINNING to
bear fruit in regard to the exact inter-
pretation of historical documents on
Egyptian monuments and papyri. Not
long ago, the supposed meaning of
these was extracted chieQy by brilliant
guessing, and the published transla-
tions of even the best scholars could
carry no guarantee of more
than approximate exactitude, where
the sense depended at all on correct
recognition of the syntax. Now the
translator proceeds in Egyptian with
SOME OP THE SURENESS with
which he would deal with Latin or
Greek. The meaning of many words
may be still unknown, and. MANY
CONSTRUCTIONS ARE STILL OB-
SCURE; but at least he can distinguish
fairly between a correct text and a
corrupt text. Egyptian writing lent
itself only too easily to misunderstand-
ing, and the writings of one period
■were but half intelligible to the learned
scribes of another. The mistaken read-
ing of the old inscriptions by the
priests at Abydos (table of Abydos),
when attempting to record -.he names
of the kings of the first dynasty, on
the walls of the temple of Seti I., are
now admitted on all sides; and no
palaeographer, whether his field be
Greek, Latin. Arabic, Persian or any
other class of Mss., will be surprised
to hear that the EGYPTIAN PA-
PYRI AND INSCRIPTIONS ABOUND
IN CORRUPTIONS AND MISTAKES.
The translator of today, can, if he
wishes, mark where certainty ends and
mere conjecture begins, and It is to be
hoped that advantage will be taken
more widely of this new power. THE
EGYPTOLOGIST WHO HAS LONG
LIVED IN THE REALM OF CON-
JECTURE IS TOO PRONE TO CON-
SIDER ANY SERIES OF GUESSES
GOOD ENOUGH TO SERVE AS A
TRANSLATION AND FORGETS TO
INSERT THE NOTES OF INTERRO-
GATION WHICH WOULD WARN
WORKERS IN OTHER FIELDS
FROM IMPLICIT TRUST."
And so the cat is out of the bag!
The studies of the past are now "be-
ginning to bear fruit in regard to the
exact interpretation of historical docu-
ments on Egyptian monuments and
papyri;" brilliant guessing has been
the rule of the past and the Egyptian
translator now proceeds "with some
of the sureness with which he would
deal with Latin or Greek;" "many con-
structions are still obscure;" "the writ-
ings of one period were but half intel-
ligible to the learned scribes of an-
other;" "Egyptian papyri and inscrip-
tions abound in corruptions and mis-
takes;" and the Egyptologist "is too
prone to consider any series of guesses
good enough to serve as a translation."
Really, are not trifles, light as ail,
held by the Reverend Bishop to be
more strong than proofs of holy writ?
In passing, it may not be malapropos j
to the contention that Joseph Smith
must be rejected because he is repu-
diated by the scholars, to refer to the
fourth verse of the eighth chapter of St.
Matthew, wherein Jesus said, "Show
thyself to the priest, and offer the gift
that Moses commanded"— the reference
being to Leviticus. But the scholarship
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR"
463
of higher criticism proclaims that Levi-
ticus was not written by Mo-
ses, nor until centuries after
his time. Christ's statement was
unqualified; he did not say
"as Moses is believed to have written"
or "as is contained within the writings
ascribed to Moses," etc., but uses the
words "that Moses commanded." And
in view of this flat controversy between
Christ and the scholars, one shudders
at the sentence that must be imposed
upon Christ and Christian pretentions.
There is another thought respecting
this controversy, that seems to be ger-
mane— a consideration that permits us
to assume that Dr. Spalding's jury is
right, and, if you will, even unanimous,
in the interpretation of the papyri sub-
mitted, namely that Abraham, in seek-
ing to represent the attempt of the
priest of Elkenah to offer up Abraham
as a sacrifice, and, again, in seeking
to represent the occasion that Pharaoh
politely permitted Abraham to sit upon
the Egyptian throne, would not violate
the analogies by substantially copying
scenes familiar to the populace of his
day and in employing the images of
Egyptian deities — even though such
scenes and images might be used to
represent meanings quite different from
their ordinary significations.
Orators, poets, and painters, in their
appeals to the public, have ever em-
ployed the simile, the metaphor, the
idealistic and the symbolical. Figures of
speech and conventionalities of a like
character in painting have never
failed to add interest and conviction
''to an otherwise bald and unconvincing
narrative." We talk to children in the
language of childhood and appeal to
the aborigine in the picturesque
imagery of nature. Benjamin West, the
American who became president of
the Royal academy, in his "Death of
Wolfe," introduced figures with modern
costumes and thus became the first
of English painters to abandon
classical draperies in historical paint-
ings— and one can imagine how con-
clusive would be the unanimous
testimony of such a flood of paintings,
if recovered from a perished civiliza-
tion, that the great men of England,
as late as the eighteenth century,
were garbed in the habiliments of
ancient Rome.
In 1911 I visited the Vatican in
Rome, and there, in the Sistine Chapel,
beheld Michael Angelo's great con-
ception of the "Last Judgment," the
central figure of which being the Great
Judge. Upstairs, somewhere in that
wilderness of rooms, I saw Raphael's
impressive picture of the Eternal
Father. These pictures are found in
the palace, the very home, of the
Roman Pontiff. Let it be supposed that
these and innumerable other repre-
sentations of God in human form,
were recovered by Macauley's New
Zealander, or by some other repre-
sentative of a civilization yet to be
born, from the ruins of the Vatican or
other ruins of the present age and
submitted to the Sayces and
Petries of. his day, in order to ascer-
tain the Roman Catholic conception of
the personality of God — can we doubt
that the unanimous verdict would be
that the Roman church held that God
was in the express physical image of
man; and this, despite the protesta-
tions of the truly initiated that these
figures were merely symbolical and
were employed by the artist to enable
them to appeal to their generations
in a language that would be under-
stood.
And so — is it more unreasonable or
inexplicable that Abraham should em-
ploy the figures of the Conopic jars
to depict certain of the Gods rep-
resented by him, or Osiris, or of Seti,
or what not, to represent himself or
the idolatrous priest, than for Angelo
to copy the face of a Roman peas-
ant or Raphael that of a "Bavarian
Toy Maker" to represent a spiritual
essence, a divinity without body or
parts.
I shall not contend that my religious
beliefs have been free from uncertain-
ties^— uncertainties, however, quite as
great, even greater, in respect of the
fundamental conceptions of Christian-
ity as in respect of tenets peculiar to
"Mormonism;" and I find some support
in the conviction that the difficulties
thus besetting me are no greater than
those besetting the great body of Chris-
tians, including perhaps the author of
464
IMPROVEMENT ERA
"Joseph Smith as a Translator." But
objections to Christianity in general,
though often difficult or impossible to
explain, become negligible to the de-
vout Christian when viewed in conjunc-
tion with the innumerable and obvious
evidences of the truth of Christianity;
and so to the converted Latter-day
Saint, the objections contained within
the Bishop's brochure, though involv-
ing some puzzling facts, sink into rela-
tive insignificance when viewed in the
light of the splendid truths proclaimed
by and through Joseph Smith, Jr. —
truths, as we believe, vindicating God
from the aspersions of theological er-
ror and ennobling mankind as the
possessor of embryotic divinity.
"Truth," says Bacon, "is the daughter
of time," and we feel that in respect of
the objections now considered we can
afford to await the vindication of the
years. Such partial vindication has
already come to the Book of Mor-
mon through the discovery of the
great ruins of Central and South
America, the fossil horse, etc.,
and in - the opinion of a gov-
ernment expert, siven in one of the
reports of the Bureau of Ethnology
that the mammoth ranged over certain
parts of America as late as 1,500
years ago.
Tours respectfully,
RICHARD W. YOUNG.
A facsimile from the Book of Abraham
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CUT NO. 1. EXPLANATION OF ABOVE.
Fig. 1. The Angel of the Lord. 2. Abraham fastened upon an altar. 3,
the idolatrous priest of Elkenah, attempting to offer up Abraham as a sacrifice.
"JOSEPH SMITH, JR., AS A TRANSLATOR"
465
4, The Altar for sacrifice by the idolatrous priests, standing before the gods of
Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah, Korash, and Pharaoh. 5, the idolatrous god
of Elkenah. 6, The idolatrous god of Libnah. 7, The idolatrous god of Mah-
mackrah. 8, The idolatrous god of Korash. 9, The idolatrous god of Pha-
raoh. 10, Abraham in Egypt. 11, Designed to represent the pillars of heaven,
as understood by the Egyptians. 12, Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the
firmament over our heads; but in this case, in relation to this subject, the
Egyptians meant it to signify Shaumau, to be high, or the heavens, answer-
ing to the Hebrew word Shaumahyeen.
A facsimile from the Book of Abraham
CUT NO. 2. EXPLANATION OF THE FOREGOING CUT.
Fig 1 Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or resi-
dence of God First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement
ol time The measurement according to celestial time, which celestial time
IS; nne dav to a cubit One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years,
Scordingto the meksSement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians
Jah_°£"eh- stands neXt to Kolob, called by the Egyptians Oliblish, which is
"nlm?!L°bmade to represent God sitting upon his throne clothed with
£ SS£? „TE„en,e^soa\o0VehtnHN„ah,r,MLhi3eaech, Ahrahan,, and ah
to whom the priesthood was revealed.
466
IMPROVEMENT ERA
Fig. 4. Answers to the Hebrew wor.l Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or
the firmament of the heavens; also a numerical figure, in Egyptian signifying
1,000; answering to the measuring of the time of Oliblish, which is equal with
Kolob in its revolution and in its measuring of time.
Fig. 5. Is called in Egyptian Enish-go-on-dosh; this is one of the govern-
ing planets also, and is said by the Egyptians to be the sun, and to borrow its
light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand
key, or, in other words, the governing power, which governs 15 other fixed
planets or stars, as also Floeese or the moon, the earth and the sun in their
annual revolutions. This planet receives its power through the medium of Kli-
flos-is-es, or Hah-ko-kau-beam, the stars represented by numbers 22 and 23,
receiving light from the revolutions of Kolob.
Fig. 6. Represents the earth in its four quarters.
Fig. 7. Represents God sitting upon his throne revealing through the heav-
ens the grand Key-Words of the Priesthood; as also, the sign of the Holy
Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a dove.
Fig. 8. Contains writing that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is to
be had in the holy temple of God.
Fig. 9. Ought not to be revealed- at the present time.
Fig. 10. Also.
Fig. 11. Also. If the world can find out these numbers, so let it be. Amen.
Figs. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 will be given in the own due time of
the Lord.
The above translation is given as far as we have any right to give at the
present time.
A facsimile from the Book of Abraham
CUT NO. 3. EXPLANATION OF THE ABOVE CUT.
1. Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh's throne, by the politeness of the king,
with a crown upon his head, representing the Priesthood, as emblematical of
the grand Presidency in Heaven; with the sceptre of justice and judgment in
his hand.
2. King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above, his hea.d.
3. Signifies Abraham in Egypt; referring to Abraham, as given in the
ninth number of the Times and Seasons. (Also as given in the first fac-
simile of this book.) •
4. Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, as written above the hand.
5. Shulem, one of the king's principal waiters, as represented by the
characters above his hand.
6. Oiimlah, a slave belonging to the prince.
Abraham is reasoning upon the principles of astronomy, in the king's
court.
By Unmapped Paths
BY JOSEPHINE SPENCER
The rows of typewriters in the big class room were cowled in
their gray covers and the crowding footsteps on the stair had died
away. One only of the class remained — a slight figure fronting
the professor's desk.
"What can I do for you, Giles?"
"Nothing, sir, I guess."
Prof. Farley looked up quickly at the boy's pale face and lips
set in unusual bitter line, then drew him into the empty seat be-
side him.
"You are in trouble. Tell me about it, Giles."
The boy's proud -reserve broke under a ring of true interest
in the other's tone.
"I suppose you know the most of it," he said, presently —
"about my father ; but you don't know about — what it has meant
for me — the fight I've had — the things put in my way. I wasn't
in my 'teens when it happened, and it's seven years since, but not
for a day or hour have they let me forget. It killed my mother,
and it looks as if it would kill me — or end me some way. You've
seen how it has been here ; it's like that everywhere. They seem
to resent my trying to be decent — to wipe out what's gone before.
That's what I wanted to do — to make my name stand for enough
right here to make up for — father. They won't let me — that's all.
I'm about ready to give up the fight."
The man laid his arm tightly about the lad's bent frame.
"It's only just begun, Giles, and the hindrances you've met
are only hurdles. There's your whole lifetime before you to win
out. These petty souls who fling cobbles and set up logs to trip
you are not the real judges nor arbiters. You've made a good
race so far. I've watched you, my boy, and know some of your
trials.
The boy groaned. "Eight years — " he faltered.
"I know," interrupted the other, "it's time you had rest.
Even the pugilists go into a corner, now and then, for breath. You
have given your home town a fair trial — offered it recompense for
a sin not your own, with the best endeavor a young life could
give. Its cold shouder is a blot on its own fame, bigger than
the one you are suffering for. I don't blame you for wanting to
clear your shoes of its dust."
468 IMPROVEMENT ERA
"I wanted to make it proud of me — it seemed the only thing
that could right his wrong."
"You can still do that, Giles ; but your race to your goal can
be made on another track. I've a place for you with me, if you
like. I'm starting" out west, when the school term's out. I can
give you a position as assistant in my night school ; and out there
where you're free from these purely local naggings, there will be
other chances as well."
The slender hand which grasped the professor's was trem-
bling.
"I guess you've saved me. It looked like there was nothing
for me but the down way."
"Never talk tobogganing, Giles. It's an out-of-date sport.
This is the airship age, you know ; any of us can soar that has
nerve and skill for the flight."
"I'm ready to try, if—"
"There are no ifs out there where the skies are mostly blue,
and plains horizonless. Big spaces breed big people, lad. You'll
have your chance out there, and it don't need much of prophecy
to say you'll likely — fly."
From a small side balcony two spectators watched the bril-
liant scene within — a ball-room bright with myriad lights, its
waxed floor thronged with moving couples.
"Have you counted the times those young people have
danced together?" smiled the woman, as a pair, notably hand-
some and well dressed, drifted past the glass doors in front of
the balcony retreat.
"Every second turn," smiled the other.
"Rather careless chaperonage. If I were the mother of a
girl with a dowery of a half million in sight, I shouldn't want her
cultivating quite such an open intimacy with a man of his pros-
pects."
"Oh, the Ramars are quite democratic, I understand. Knew
poverty themselves once, you know, and believe in showing tol-
erance. Not, I imagine, that they would nourish the mere fortune
hunter. They are all hard as steel when it comes to any kind of
trickery. But Giles Clancy is a different proposition. His life has
been an open page since he came here — a lad of seventeen. What
he lacks in fortune he makes up in character. Besides, he is in
a fair way to take good care of himself. Prof. Farley's death last
year made him virtual head of the business college. It means a
good living for a young fellow of his cleverness and grit."
"Good enough for the average girl — but Lois Ramar — "
"Hush — here they come. Let's have this next waltz and give
them a chance."
BY UNMAPPED PATHS
469
The two slipped through one window as the young couple
came through the other.
"Just in time," smiled the girl. "This balcony seat is meant
only for the very elect."
"If I could believe myself in that category," said her com-
panion, holding the eyes, raised to his with a moment's steady
gaze, "I could ask nothing more of fate."
"A seat in a side
balcony is a small boon
to ask at the hands of the
benign goddess," pro-
tested the girl, ignoring
his meaning glance. "Its
importance in your esti-
mation, implies that I
must have tired you ter-
ribly in that last dance."
"As if you could
ever tire me, Lois !" He
stopped abruptly, and
turned from her with
visible effort. "It at
least gives me the op- .
portunity I had hoped
for tonight," he said, un-
steadily, after a pause,
"to say good by to you
alone."
"Good-by !" echoed
Lois. "You are going
away?"
"Good-by!" echoed Lois,
going away?
'You are
"Yes. It must be
that or — "
"But your work — "
"I have already transferred my share in the college," said
Giles, a suspicious catch in his voice. "There are only the —
the farewells."
"But it has been so sudden — you — you — "
"I have considered it for the past year, but I have been too
loath, too cowardly to take the final stand. My resolution finally
was taken in a moment's desperate strength. I knew that I must
do it — there was no other way."
"Giles — you are in trouble — some deep cause underlies this
sudden act. Can you trust — to let me know — to try to help you ?"
There was a moment's silence, then he turned to her, his face pale
but set with sudden purpose.
"Lois, I had hoped to leave you with your mind untainted by
470 IMPROVEMENT ERA
doubt of me, as I believe it has been in the past. But I shall tell
you my secret, so that you may know why I cannot — dare not
speak to you of what is in my heart. I am the son of a felon,
Lois. My father, in my early childhood, robbed a bank of which
he was a trusted employe, and left us — my mother and me — to
live down his shame. She died. I struggled against it unsuccess-
fully for years, back there where we were all known, then came
to this far place for my rightful chance in the world. I thought
I had it — till I met you. Then I knew that the past still held me.
I could not ask you, or any other woman to share my life with
that secret behind me. To live here in sight of you, with no hope
of winning you, is impossible. I am giving up the goal that I
have lived and worked for because it means nothing to me —
without you. In some other place I will take up the fight again —
live my life as best I can without you — "
"Giles !" Lois' hands clasped both of his, and her dark eyes
looked at him through tears. "Do you think I shall let you make
this sacrifice — you who have won more than my love — "
"Lois !"
"Wait, dear, and listen to me. What you have told me be-
longs to us, alone — none other need know. My father likes,
respects you. He is a hard man where personal honesty and integ-
rity are concerned and he reveres courage, pluck, success. These
with him, are the prime credentials. You have all these — I know
that with him they will pass — "
"For myself, perhaps — but Lois, this secret is not ours.
Some day my father will be released, and then I — No, Lois, I
have spent wakeful nights with my bitter problem. Nothing can
solve it but renunciation."
"But if I am willing to face it ?"
Giles pressed the white hands resting in his, to his lips.
"It means more than life to me, that you can offer this sacri-
fice."
"It is not that to me," she answered. "I count your long
struggle as heroism. I myself will tell father. He shall judge
and decide for us, if you wish."
"If you go to him with my story and presumption in one
breath—"
The glass door opened, and John Barry, one of the guests
of the night, came out on the little porch. "Cosy corner taken, I
see," he smiled. "That's right. Cupid has first claim. I was
going to monopolize it for a business talk with McCraig
here. By the way, Giles, you're the topic I was about
to discuss. McCraig's been left a fortune by some misguided
relative over in the old country, and is leaving us next week.
We heard you'd sold out the business college, and had you in
mind for his place. Call in tomorrow at the bank, and have a
BY UNMAPPED PATHS 471
talk — perhaps we can make it to your interest to stay here. We
can't afford to let a young fellow of your caliber quit town."
He withdrew, dragging McCraig after him, and the two, left
alone, gazed at each other silently.
"It is so sudden, and strange," breathed Lois. "It seems
almost like a swift answer to my prayer."
"It is the one chance in ten thousand," said Giles, "to prove
myself, to make good what my father lost. If I succeed, then I
can go to your father myself, Lois — ask what my heart craves. I
must take this chance, as you have said, as a veritable gift from
heaven, leading both to you and to the other prize which I have
cherished."
"But you see, Giles, don't you — that this secret of yours must
be ours alone for awhile. You mustn't begin hampered by sus-
picion, or even doubt. You've won a fair field for your home
stretch, the fairest odds. As for me — I shall wait for you — a
year, a month or a day — as you choose. If you — " But the rest
was smothered on a lapel of black broadcloth, behind a friendly
screen of palms.
The Rev. Lee Ellis, walking rapidly toward the state's big
penal institution, paused suddenly at sight of a figure shuffling
toward him in the wintry dusk.
"Out already, are you ?" he asked, taking the other's hand in
a friendly clasp. "It's earlier than they expected, isn't it?"
"The papers came this morning. I've spent the afternoon
saying good-by to the boys."
"I should have regretted not saying good-by, too," said the
clergyman. "You've been a sort of light here in the midst of all
this. I'm looking for good things from you. A man that can get
such a reprieve from his term, for good behavior, ought to return
some marked record to the world."
A dark smile moved the other's set lips. "If the world will
let him," he said.
"The world is a better comrade than you think," came the
reply. "It will lift or strike down as a man may deserve — that's
all. Show your good will by it — it will respond in kind."
His companion pointed back to the grated pile of brick be-
hind him. "There's four men back there that went out some time
after I went in. They all had good intentions, fine resolves. Now
they are all inside again. Who's to blame ?" He smiled sardon-
ically while the other looked at him in silence.
'"You will not come back. You have conscience, pride, incen-
tive— perhaps a wife, a child — "
"Neither. My wife died; my son disappeared — died, too,
perhaps."
472 IMPROVEMENT ERA
"You can go back to the home place, and make good."
The man laughed loudly, derisively.
"My home place skirts the Atlantic. My way is toward the
far west— leagues from my native home. If things go well—
who knows ? I have learned here to make no resolves. It takes
two to make a bargain. The world is the best and biggest fellow
of the pair. I am waiting to see its hand."
He turned, and the clergyman, watching, saw his figure fade
into the deepening twilight.
Westlake boasted a half dozen real magnates — J. J. G. Per-
kins, who had cleaned up a half million in real estate when the
town had its first boom ; Job Ramar, head of its first big-depart-
ment store ; Melissa Briggs, who had come to Westlake in the
beginning as a clerk in the same institution, but had been lucky in
mining speculations, and had stayed on here "to show the people
who had looked down on her then, that she was a mite better than
the best of them she'd waited on ;" and last, but not least, three
Barry brothers, owners of the biggest bank in Westlake, and
whose rumored profits therefrom, raised their prestige to a point
exceeding the other local magnates, as the sun ranks to mortal
vision above stars.
To be chosen first-hand to a position of trust with these men
meant the highest voucher possible in the eyes of the community,
and Giles Clancy, popular from the first for his geniality and good
looks, sprang at once into social and business prominence. The
sale of his interest in the private college, which had been made
quietly, posed now as a logical forerunner of this important ad-
vancement, whose salary, as well as prestige, counted for much
more than his holdings in the educational institution.
The new incumbent of McCraig's important trusts therefore
went to his duties with the feeling that new life had risen before
him from figurative ashes of discouragement and hopelessness
which had preceded its chance.
Almost a year had passed since the sudden vista opened be-
fore him, and he had no doubt of his standing with the men who
had made it. A distinct proof of it had arisen recently. It was
nearing Christmas time, and the three brothers had resolved to
make a trip to their old home in Wisconsin to spend the holiday
with their parents, both now so aged that chances could but be
well nigh over for their joint reunion.
Separately they had journeyed back once or twice, but an
urgent message had come pleading that they all meet too-ether
once more beneath the home rooftree, and they had pledged them-
selves to this treat.
Giles' elation at this proof of trust was tempered only with
anxiety for its adequate fulfilment. With the three heads o-0ne,
BY UNMAPPED PATHS 473
responsibility rested inevitably upon himself, and when the time
came he set himself a vigil which no circumstance save death
might surprise into danger or defeat.
This resolved itself into a personal daily surveillance of the
bank's affairs, and a nightly watch of the premises, that no possi-
ble chance might betray the trust in his hands. It meant an actual
waking vigil of four nights, and the last day found the young
cashier feeling unmistakeable results of the unusual strain. It
was Christmas, which in Westlake dawned mild almost as Indian
summer. Giles, waking at noon from a two-hours' sleep after his
long night's watch, felt ambition at first hinged to the tempting
couch which had given him his scant rest. Remembrance, how-
ever, of his holiday engagements, which included a full afternoon
with Lois, spurred him into quick activity.
Leaving Watson in charge at the bank, he went to his near
boarding house, and after a quick breakfast, was picked up by
his auto party for the long country drive planned to precede a
later dinner at the Ramar home, and evening at the theater.
Watson, who had served as nightwatchman for the Barry
brothers for fifteen years, took his own special trust in the absence
of the "bosses" with much the same attitude as Giles. Sharing
alone with Giles the exact knowledge of the rather extended ab-
sence, he made the most of its importance. Twice since dusk he
had made rounds of the building in his holiday's special watch,
and now entered again the Barry's private office, from whose ce-
mented side wall opened the bank vaults.
"It's funny," he muttered ; "that's the same sound I fancied
I've heard two or three times this afternoon, and just after I'd left
this room. I know the fastenings are all right. It must have been
from outside. Them horses' hoofs on the pavement sound like
hammers sometimes ; it's not the first time they've fooled me.
I guess my nerves must have crossed wires with Mr. Clancy's
about this night-watching business to set my imagination going
this way. Think of his paying me extra for the week the bosses
is away, and then taking the brunt of the watch himself. The
responsibility must have gone to his brain. I'm not sorry,
though, his taking the last part o' the night for his turn — it takes
a heap of strain off me. Bank robberies don't occur much in a
thoroughfare like this till the streets are clean of people, and if
this institution was to be touched at all, it won't be till I'm safe at
home. Ah ! there's Mr. Clancy now."
The outer door opened as he spoke, and Giles entered.
"Hullo, Watson. Everything ship-shape?" he asked.
"So far, Mr. Clancy. If you'll pardon my saying it, there'll
be no burglar in the bank tonight if your end of the job is as neat
done as mine."
474 IMPROVEMENT ERA
"I must certainly try to emulate you, Watson," laughed
Giles, "and here's a little extra for the holiday overtime."
"Thank you, Mr. Clancy. You've been generous enough al-
ready without that, but I must say it hasn't been a cheerful after-
noon here by myself."
"We can congratulate ourselves that the special watches end
tonight, Watson."
"Bosses home tomorrow, Mr. Clancy?"
"Yes, and the next holiday they take away from Westlake
together, I hope will be in the millennium when we won't need
extra watches set for burglars."
"That sentiments mine, Mr. Clancy, provided it wouldn't let
me out of a good job. I'll say good night, sir."
"Good night," laughed Giles. He took off his overcoat and
hat as Watson disappeared, then gazed for a moment longingly at
the couch piled with cushions through Lois' insistence, for his
supposed snatches of sleep through the night. "That couch is a
temptation," he muttered. "Dear girl, I wonder what she would
say, if she knew my head had not touched those cushions once in
my four nights' watch." He took out his timepiece. "Twelve
o'clock — that means six long hours to kill. Well, I'll straighten
out those Moseby accounts — they're in a hard enough knot to
keep me awake, if anything will."
Going to the desk he took from its drawer a roll of foolscap,
and then a revolver, and laying the latter aside at his elbow, sat
down at the desk and began work at the papers. At the end of
half an hour his head dropped, and he caught himself with a start.
Figures, names, everything blurred together.
"It's the big Christmas dinner, I guess," he muttered. "Makes
my head heavy as lead." He rose, walked about the room, and
came back with new determination. Twenty minutes' work — a
weary task. Again his head dropped, this time without notice. His
eyes closed, his chin fell upon the arms outstretched upon the desk.
A half hour passed — another. The clock from the neighboring
town hall struck two. Then something strange happened. A block
of tiling at the rear end of the room moved, rose, and swung back
as if on hinges. A head appeared, to be quickly withdrawn ; then
a figure crept through the opening, followed by another. They
moved, softly, rapidly, toward the sleeping man at the desk.
Giles roused to gaze dazedly into the muzzle of a revolver.
"Hands up !" breathed the man. "Quicker — I tell you —
What do you take us for? Walk out here — away from the desk
— farther, I tell you ! I see you've got your gun there, handy, but
I'll spare you the trouble of using it. Jake, take your rope and tie
him to the desk. Now, go through his pockets. Got everything?
Now, my young friend, I've a business proposition to make, and
if you're quick at figuring, you'll jump at the snap I'm going to
BY UNMAPPED PATHS 475
put in your way. I've a litle box here, with some dangerous
material inside ; and I'm going to make fireworks of you if you
waste any time giving us the combination to that vault. Be good,
my boy, and nothing worse shall happen to you than the ropes,
there, and a mouthpiece to keep you still. Disoblige us, and we'll
make a bonfire of the vault after we finish you. Don't believe me,
I see. Think the noise is a little too much risk? Well, the explo-
sion won't count. I'm an inventor, you see, and my little box is
soundless. It's filled with dynamite, but its noise goes off in
vapor. I'll give you a second's more time to tell, then I'll set
this box at your feet, and light the fuse. Understand ?"
Laying down his revolver, the man took from his pocket a
small tin box, unrolling from around it a long fuse. Just then his
companion came hastily forward with a scrap of paper which he
had taken from Giles' pocketbook.
"Here's something I found hid tight away in the lining of
his purse. Looks like a puzzle on it — it might be just what we
want. You're an expert at these things. See if you can pick
sense out of that."
The man took it eagerly. "Looks natural to me. We'll have
a try at the vault with these figures."
He ran quickly to the vault, and after a few dexterous turns,
came back jubilantly to his partner.
"It's a go," he whispered. "Here, take this and gag him. If
anyone else turns up, shoot. I'll take care of the rest."
Giles stood with set teeth, his face sculptured in the dim light
into resemblance of white marble.
"Wait," he breathed. "You were about to set fire to that
fuse at my feet. I want you to do it, before you enter that vault."
The elder man turned back for a curious look.
"This little surprise party must have turned his brain," said
the other.
"Did we catch a remark from you ?" asked the elder, sarcas-
tically. .
"I ask you to kill me ; blow me up, shoot, strangle — anything
so that I'm dead when you leave this place."
"I say, Jake," said the elder. "We can't waste time on a luna-
tic. The asylum will get him in the morning."
"Oh, I'm not insane," said Giles. "I'm asking you to show me
fair play, that's all."
The elder man stared a moment, then grinned. "Here's the sit-
uation, Jake," he said. "With a bank clerk left in charge of things,
and the money gone on a tight little combination that nobody
knows but him, who's to believe, when he's found next day with
a rope tied just like he could tie it around himself, that there's
anybody but him been in on the job? It lets us, or anybody else,
out of so much as a suspicion !"
476 IMPROVEMENT ERA
( riles' teeth crimsoned with a line of red from his nether lip.
"I want you men to hear me," he said. "If you were in court
on trial for your life, you'd want a fair chance, wouldn't you —
you'd want everything possible done to keep you from the hang-
man !"
The men looked at him with dawning interest, and Giles went
rapidly on.
"I'm in the selfsame fix. I'm on trial here tonightfor things
that mean more to me than life— my good name, faith, integrity —
all the things I've worked for in years? Men, I want to tell you
the story of my life."
"Cut it," said the younger man, disgustedly. "We ain't got
time for Sundav school spiels, tonight."
"It won't take long," pleaded Giles. "Besides, there's no one
to disturb you. The nightwatchman is gone for the night —
there's no one else to interfere. I'm frank with you, you see, be-
cause I want you to believe that I'm sincere." The younger man
turned away sneering, but the other detained him.
"It's sort of interesting," he jibed. "A new kind of enter-
tainment— and species — in this life is something worth while — a
little while. Go ahead with your declamation, young man, but
don't build up false hopes. We haven't spent three months get-
ting through that floor to fluke the spoil now it's in hand."
Giles took a long breath. Heaven itself could have been no
dearer just then than this reprieve.
"It's like this, men," he said. "You are dealing me the hard-
est sentence a man ever suffered ; worse than stripes, or prison
bars — or the gallows. I've had a hard time, men ; I was started in
life wrong."
The younger man for the first time showed signs of interest,
coming to join his companion who sat with crossed legs on the
desk. Giles took his chance eagerly, talking quietly, his quick-
drawn breath now and then showing his desperate tension.
"At the very beginning," he said, "my father cut me off from
the chances most men are born with. I was respectably born,
with a name above reproach. My father went back on the
chances those things gave. He did — what you are doing tonight,
but it was a worse crime than yours, for he was a trusted em-
ploye of the bank he robbed — as I am now of this."
The elder man moved nervously, his dark eyes devouring
Giles' face.
"He was caught, and went to prison. That was bad enough,
but not all ; for his disgrace tainted us all — killed his wife, robbed
his son of prestige, respect, his every chance in the community
he knew and loved best. I faced life alone when I most needed
protection ; and above everything hung the shadow of my blighted
name. I lived under its cloud. It shut me from -every means of
BY UNMAPPED PATHS 477
reputable livelihood. Employment, trust — for the son of a crim-
inal ? Well, I won't tell it all. I made my fight with courage, God
knows. I met rebuffs till the sound of them was a scourge — a pes-
tilence that tainted every hope. I wanted to stay there in my
native place, and build something that should live down my fath-
er's shame, a record that should help to whiten his. But its blight
was too deadly, there, in my native home ; I had to leave Ches-
ley."
"Chesley!" repeated the elder man. His voice was a whis-
per— a gasp rather. He looked at Giles with glazed eyes.
"Then I came out west," said Giles, his heart beating wildly
at the gleam of hope in the others' interest. "Here, in a strange
place, where none knew me, I took up the fight again. God knows
how carefully I have worked ! Finally, I won this position of
trust. It has been dearer to me than anything save my hope of
heaven — for it means all that I've set stakes to win. Don't you
see what it means — your work tonight ? It means that you are
wiping out all that I've won. If this bank is robbed, nothing can
save me from blame — suspicion. If you are men, you won't leave
me alive here to bear that blight."
The younger man laughed. "We're under a blight, too, my
boy. We know just how you are goin' to feel — eh, Red?" He
started toward the vault, but stopped at a sharp word from his
companion.
"Keep away from that vault."
"What you say?" said the other, incredulously.
"You heard what I said. Get back into the hole."
The other reached for a rear pocket, but the elder quickly
leveled his pistol. "Drop that gun — on the floor. Now go."
The other began a slow retreat toward the opening in the
tiled floor. "I'll be half-masted to a gallows' tree if you ain't clean
off your head," he muttered. "Do you know what you're doin' ?
Pikin' from the neatest job that ever fell head over heels into a
mutt's way — and all for a Sabbath school chin from a smooth-
tongued kid."
"Thats' my affair. This is my job — I planned it, and if I
choose a way of my own for ending — it's not your stunt to ask
questions. Get down there, I said."
The other looked at him ferociously, threateningly for a mo-
ment, then dropped from view through the floor.
"You heard what he said ?" asked the elder. "Well, perhaps
he's right. But I'm going to give you that chance you've been
working for: I've been a bad man — but perhaps, if I'd thought
it all out — like — you've pictured it — it might have been different.
I didn't think — you see. I didn't look so far ahead. But there —
it's no use now. It's done, and there's no going back. You'll not
forget this — that I tried — "
478 IMPROVEMENT ERA
"That yon saved me," interrupted Giles. "I shan't forget it
through all my life."
"That's all, except this. I want you to let it help you to wipe
out hard feelings against your — against the man you told about in
your story."
"It shall. For years I have treasured hatred for him,
but you have changed that. Good must be in him, too, since you — "
"Keep him in your mind as a creature like me — who went
down maybe in an hour's strong temptation."
"In five years my father will be released from prison. I shall
know what to do. Your deed of tonight has taught me a new
duty to him. Before, it was estrangement — retaliation. I am
strong enough now to forgive, and to aid him."
"No, not that. He don't deserve to come into your life again.
It would only hurt you — and he's done enough. He must make
his own atonement, and from what I know — of my own heart — he
will do that. He needed only to be shown how far — how deadly
sure a man's acts reach hands into the future. He'll not come
back to pile up issues in your life. He will straigthen out his own
by himself, for his own sake, and for yours. There, I'll cut those
ropes. You can show them tomorrow to prove your story. That
opening in the floor must be accounted for and closed. Don't let
them put a trust like this on you again, as you value all you hold
dear! No safeguards are sure against desperate men, nor against
treachery. For — my — don't let either pull you down — from what
you've won." He took a knife from his pocket and cut the ropes
which bound Giles. As he did so a low voice reached them.
"Red," it whispered, "there's a peeler outside. Looks like he
has scented something. Be quick or you'll be pinched."
Without a word the man turned, and in an instant disap-
peared in the tile trap.
The next day, in the precincts of the Barry brothers' private
room, Giles told the three brothers the details of his close escape,
then went over the story of his own life, keeping nothing back.
"I perhaps made a mistake in keeping this from you, but I
wanted my chance — everything in life depended upon it — and I
feared that once known, my secret might be the blight — that it
was back there. Tonight I shall tell the father of the girl I love
what I have told you. You all shall take me henceforth on my
own character — if at all. If I lose out, it will be better than this
life I live now, dreading each day's possible discovery. When my
father is released it must be known, for I — "
"You say his term is up in five years?" questioned the elder
Barry. "How do you know that he is not already released — on
pardon ?"
Giles turned pale. "I had not thought of that. I had counted
so long on the time of respite from facing him."
BY UNMAPPED PATHS 479
John Barry came and laid his arm about Giles' shoulders.
"Did it not occur to you last night? — Don't start, my boy — you
may be sure he is the true cause of your escape. I shall look into
it, to make sure — but there is no doubt in my own mind that you
owe your preservation to — your father. If he gave up all that,
last night, you may be sure he will keep the pledges made to you —
that you will never see him again."
Giles rose dazedly to his feet, wavered a moment, and fell
back in his chair.
"Fainted!" said John Barry. "And no wonder. What do
you think of a man," he said, as he bathed Giles' face with the
water the others had hastily brought, "who will keep a personal
vigil of four nights, and ask for death rather than stand for the
betrayal of his trust ? Here is the proof of it in a letter I received
this morning, undoubtedly from the criminal himself. To me it
is all the proof I want, aside from what we know of Giles' record,
that we have chosen the right man for the place."
And in one breath the others acquiesced.
New Year's night came cold and clear, and against its purple
sky bright lights gleaming from the Ramar home shone starlike
in brilliancy. Indoors they lit a scene of radiant happiness.
Quietly wedded during the day, Lois and Giles sat at the head of
a banquet table spread in their honor, a smiling pair, facing a
score of close friends bidden to share with them the celebration of
the quickly planned event. For Henry Ramar, listening a week
before with dim eyes to the young man's story, would brook no
further delay.
"You've been the man of my choice for my daughter since I
first laid eyes on you, and since I know the struggle you've made,
I'd pick you out of ten thousand for her husband. Besides, I
need a young head to help in my finances. There's no reason why
you shouldn't step right in and take the place my son would
have taken, had I been blessed with one. I suppose I'll have a
fuss with the Barrys. They sort of think they've got all the
rights there are going about you. But any way, I don't want you
and Lois to wait any longer. You've been courting her for two
years, and that's long enough. Besides, you need a holiday after
your long siege of work — and watching. I want you to take a
lay-off for two weeks — a honeymoon in Southern California will
be just the thing."
And so it was that the New Year found Giles Clancy begin-
ning life in a new way, with no haunting hate nor fear to darken
his thought. And night after night, as months and years passed,
went up his faithful prayer that the lonely one in places afar and
unknown, might work out his reparation finally to meet with
those other dear ones to whom his welfare was dear. So, he
480 IMPROVEMENT ERA
believed it would be. For to each soul with self-purpose turned
to redemption, shines out that star of promise which lit the shep-
herds' gaze one night in Galilee. To ourselves the fight, to a sure
hereafter, the reward.
"Build thee more stately mansions, oh, my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Quit thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free —
Leaving thine outgrown shell by Life's unresting sea."
Only a Miner
He's only a miner, "part human," they say,
Who works for his living, works by the day.
Far away from the sunlight, under the hill,
You'll find him there with his hamer and drill.
He's known by a number, a little brass check
He strings to his watch, or hangs 'round his neck;
He receives it at morn, and goes to his work,
Where darkness, sickness, and danger all lurk.
He's only a miner who works by the glim,
Till his face grows pale and his eyes grow dim.
You scarcely could find one who's freer than he
To spend of his means to aid charity.
His companion laid low by blast or by cave,
He lays him away to rest in the grave.
He visits the widow; gives courage to strive;
Then gives of his means to help her survive.
He's only a miner, so give him a chance;
'Twill do you no harm, and he may advance.
Uplift him by proving your cause to be right;
Improvement will come with freedom and light.
Oppression hath wrought no good in the world;
But by it nations have downward been hurled.
Though he is a miner, he's true as his steel,
Will never! no never! to avarice kneel!
M. A. Stewart.
BISBEE, ARIZONA
The Significance of Belief
BY WILLIAM J. SNOW, OF THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
One often hears the remark, "It makes no difference what
one believes, so long as he does the right thing." At first
thought this seems plausible and consistent. Righteousness is the
great aim of individual struggle ; hence, if the conduct is proper
and right, there is not much ground for questioning belief. View-
ing the matter, then, from this standpoint, it matters not whether
one bears the stamp of orthodoxy or heterodoxy, so long as one's
life is above reproach. Is the position tenable? Let us examine
it more critically.
In the first place it should be made clear that it is not the
purpose of this article to defend any particular orthodoxy, or to
argue for fixity of belief with reference to various particulars and
assumed objective facts. On the contrary, it seems to the writer
that change is the law of life, and that it reaches into the religious
field as well as everywhere else. In fact two of the basic pillars
of "Mormonism" rest upon this law of change, and have no mean-
ing without it. These are, "eternal progression," and "continuous
revelation." Progress is but another name for change — change
from a lower to a higher condition, — and continuous revelation
means new principles, new light from heaven to meet the new
conditions constantly arising. This digression seemed necessary
here to make clear the aim of the paper, which is to show that it
does matter very materially what one believes.
We may now examine more closely the statement, "It makes
no difference what one believes, so long as he does what is
right." The prime fallacy in this lies in the assumption that belief
and action are separate and independent realities ; that each exists
for itself alone. The fact is, they are intimately associated ele-
ments in the same process ; neither can manifest itself without the
other. In short, action inevitable grows out of and is dependent
upon some belief, either immediately present, or remotely asso-
ciated with it.
To be sure, there are various beliefs which do not appear to
have any connection with the moral or spiritual life. Of such
character are beliefs in external facts, or mere historical par-
ticulars. It certainly matters little whether one believes that the
482 IMPROVEMENT ERA
earth was made in six days or in six million years ; or whether one
can give intellectual assent to the historical accuracy of the Jonah
story or the story of Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt. But
it does matter very much whether or not one believes the Bible to
be a great revelation of God's ministry among his children, and of
his creative power in the formation of the earth. It matters but
little whether one believes that the Savior himself baptized, or
whether he left the performance of that ceremony to his disciples ;
but it does matter materially whether one believes that he was the
Redeemer of the world and the Author of salvation — the One who
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. It mat-
ters little whether one believes Joseph Smith was born in Sharon
or South Royalton ; or that he said the city of Enoch was taken
out of the Gulf of Mexico, or that he was scientifically and his-
torically accurate in every statement ; but it makes a vital differ-
ence whether or not one believes that Joseph Smith was the
prophet of this latter day dispensation, and the revealer of mighty
truths for the exaltation of man. Upon all these generalized
beliefs depend one's attitude towards life, one's course of action.
Indeed, beliefs in principles or truths are always anticipatory, and
always represent bases of action with reference to remote ends.
What one believes, then, with reference to basic religious con-
cepts, is a key to what one is and what one will become. This
being true, it is of vital concern that educational influences make
for optimism, and promote faith in God, faith in man, and faith
in the triumph of right. Let each, then, express his hopes and
beliefs ; for all have doubts enough of their own.
But now let us consider some practical illustrations of "beliefs
and actions." The discussion thus far has been largely academic.
The conclusions reached, however, are confirmed by the life of
individuals and peoples. A study of the history of nations will
show that the most fundamental fact about them all is their relig-
ious belief. The character of their civilization and the nature of
their achievements are explained with reference to their beliefs.
The antiquities of the Egytians are but a reflex of their faith in
the future. Whence their mighty monuments? Why their skill
in embalming their dead? What the motive for their art and
sculpture? An analysis of their beliefs will furnish us the
answers we seek.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BELIEF 483
They held very tangible, though crude, notions of the future
life; the continuance of life after death was conditional upon the
preservation of the body. If the body were destroyed, the soul
would degenerate ; and, though it might drag on an existence, it
would be greatly hampered and narrowed in its activities. Hence,
the first need was the devising of ways and means for the pre-
serving of the body. Huge pyramids were built as monumental
tombs for the dead. These have endured throughout the ages.
The art of embalming attained such perfection that now, after four
thousand years, we may look upon the actual faces of the dead
Pharaohs.
But these activities are not all that are traceable to the beliefs
of the Egyptians ; their sculpture and art arise from the same
source. Believing that the soul needed food after death as well as
before, they placed by the side of bodies tempting viands ; but also
believing the soul utilized only the spirit or double of these things,
pictures began to be substituted for the realities. Then again,
believing that, if perchance the body should be destroyed, a me-
chanical substitute might suffice, sculptural images and statuettes
began to be buried with the body. Thus art and sculpture grew
up. In short, all the leading struggles and important achievements
of the Egyptians were but the working out of beliefs.
What is true of Egypt as a nation is largely true of all other
nations. Jastrow says, in his history of the religion of the Baby-
lonians and Assyrians, that their religious beliefs are the most
fundamental facts about them, and that they furnish the basis of
explanation for all other facts. In the case of the Babylonians,
however, their chief concern was their present existence and not
the future. Their acts were measured by the effect such acts were
supposed to have upon the immediate situation. The favor of the
gods was sought in the interest of present undertakings. This
was largely true, too, of Greece and Rome. But in all cases essen-
tial actions and national and individual character were the out-
growths of generalized beliefs.
Perhaps no more striking example of the influence of belief
can be had than that furnished by the Hindus. They believed the
end of life to be individual annihilation, or absorption in Nirvana.
Out of Nirvana everything arose, and in Nirvana everything would
find completion and perfection. There, identity would be lost,
484 IMPROVEMENT ERA
individual consciousness would be lost, nothing left but universal
spirit. Acting upon this belief, they tried constantly to deliver
themselves from life, to crucify all desire, to rid themselves of in-
stincts, to blot out all physical desires. In the place, then, of
material civilization, the creation of those things that minister to
the desires and conveniences of society, there was isolation, medi-
tation, hermitage, personal sacrifices and physical torture of all
kinds. It is said that some Hindu philosophers kept their hands
clenched until their finger nails grew through the palms of their
hands. Stories are related, too, of the Hindu mother throwing
her babe into the mouth of the crocodiles, as a religious- rite.
Again we see that belief, conditions and conduct shape civilization.
This idea of sacrifice was carried over into Christian times,
and formed emphasis in the monastic system that grew up in the
so-called "Dark Ages." The monks believed in a life of austere
self-denial ; exaltation of the spirit was to be obtained through
the crucifixion of the flesh. Instincts and desires were not as now
to be rationalized and expressed, but denied and suppressed.
Social pleasures were therefore denied and society was shunned.
Monasteries grew up and salvation was largely confined within
their walls. Physical abasement was considered a means of spir-
itual enlargement. Some examples of self-torture and self-ab-
negation almost equal anything expressed in India. Tennyson's
"Simeon Stylites" presents a vivid picture of the monk of the
Middle ages. In any age the belief or beliefs selected for em-
phasis will determine largely the standard of individual conduct
and the trend of community effort. During the Mediaeval period,
even the architecture was distinctively reflective of the "other-
worldliness" of the time.
The Latter-day Saints exemplify strikingly the significance
of belief. Two phases of their religious life may serve to illus-
trate this point. The revealed word of God to them, and in which
the believe most sincerely, declares moral purity to be an essen-
tial— a very fundamental one — of salvation. In fact it affirms
that an adulterer could not enter the kingdom of heaven. In
every "Mormon" community, and at the hearthstone of every
"Mormon" home, this ideal of virtue is held up, and belief in
the dire consequences of its violation is engendered. The result
is a rugged purity which can scarcely be found anywhere else
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BELIEF 485
in the world. The writer recalls that in the town in which he
was reared, there was but one lapse from virtue in the first twenty-
five years of the town's history. This single incident shocked the
whole community. This town was but typical of the whole territory
at that time. If moral turpitude is creeping into our community,
and we cannot be blind to the fact that such is the case, should
not all means that are adopted for its eradication be re-enforced
by the belief that our Father in heaven looks with no degree of
allowance upon moral impurity? In other words, will not a virile
faith in God be the great force against this evil, as against every
other? Such a belief in the hearts of Latter-day Saints before
worldly influences crept into their midst, produced the desired
results.
Now, as to a second phase of their life in these valleys. They
believe, and always have believed, implicitly in the positive asser-
tion of Joseph Smith the Prophet, that "no man can be saved in
ignorance." This conception has always constituted a vital motive
urging them on to educational efforts. In every condition, in
poverty and in prosperity, in trial and in peace, no effort has been
spared, no sacrifice has been considered too great, to provide facil-
ities for the proper training and education of the people. As a
result of this (we do not ignore the help and co-operation of those
who have come among us), Utah ranks enviably high among the
states of the Union in education.
Briefly summed up, my contention is that it does make a dif-
ference as to what one believes, that belief is the basis for action,
and that as such it has all the force of an ideal which is set up
as a goal of endeavor. Vital, then, is it that our boys and girls
be surrounded by influences that make for optimism and a com-
prehensive belief in the gospel — a belief that will not be seriously
shocked or undermined by the discovery of certain historical in-
accuracies in the Bible, or by the shattering of certain mechanical
idols to which we have been devoted. Nor need we turn our
backs upon any field of knowledge. Security depends upon being
frank, and honest, and open-minded. It is for us in our religion
to select for emphasis that which in our day and time seems most
applicable to the conditions, remembering that "Truth's eternal,
but her effluence, with endless change, is fitted to the hour."
PROVO, UTAH
IBY"
^Lucr&xi: tRJ^YTi^sav.
Chapter VIII — Peavine
Since the first camp at Peavine, when Ben played with the
Soorowits children, Fred Rojer spent from one to three weeks in
that grove every summer, and every summer he brought the boy
along as an indispensable part of the outfit.
After the ten days with Montana, at Rincone, a brief week
passed in town before father and son made camp at Peavine again.
And again the world wagged easy, and all nature moved to its
own tune, with the ease and unconcern of the butterfly's flitting
over the stretches of grass and flowers.
Ben had no Stripes on which to lavish the caresses of his
cayuse-loving, dog-devoted nature, for Flossy's insolent treat-
ment of Bowse, had made a slight breach of friendship between
herself and the brown-eyed boy. But Fred Rojer gave his son
a three-year-old colt, and the only real work the two did in a
week, was to accustom Ben and the colt to each other's ways, so
that one dared to ride and the other dared to allow it. They made
this a quiet, pleasant task for two hours every morning and even-
ing, devoting the rest of the day to books and dialogue, lounging
under the trees, hunting grouse, or gum, or squirrels, as the in-
clination of one or the other happened to indicate. Together they
found the nests of birds, and watched the chipmunk frisk on the
limb ; they saw the timid deer browse the oak leaves in the early
morning, and watched the sun sink into the red deserts to the
west.
Young Rojer could not understand it, though he enjoyed it
immensely. Why they should lose so much time in this place
every summer, became more of a problem all the time. One even-
ing when they had rambled about a good deal, and accomplished
little so far as Ben could see, he came out with a direct question :
VOICE OF THE INTANGIBLE 487
"How is it, Pa, that we camp here so much and do so little while
we are here ? If it were Jud, he'd spend about a day rounding up
these horses, and two days breaking 'em, and then he'd be ready
for something else."
"Yes, I suppose he would, son; but you're not Jud, neither
am I."
In the pause which followed, young Rojer began to fear he
had given offense ; "I didn't mean to be rude," he explained.
"I'm not angry," assured his father, ''I was just wondering
whether you're ready to hear something — something I've been
intending for a long time to tell you."
"What is it?" asked the boy eagerly.
"Did you ever read, 'Having eyes, they see not, and ears, hear
not?' "
"Oh, yes, I've read it, — why? am I an awfully dull boy?"
"Not that, but there are things which men could see if they
would, yet very few care enough to make the effort. Most men
have trained their attention and set their hearts so continuously
upon the sources from which there might come a dollar, that they
have become deaf and blind and stupid, to the very best things of
earth. Yet there are men who might see, even here — "
"A spirit?"
"No, I wasn't going to say that, but they would see and hear
things in this grove, about which, we have never talked. Since
you were a little babe, I have hoped you would have eyes and ears
for something nobler than a dollar, and I have brought you here,
and watched to see if you noticed the thing which first attracted
me to this grove."
"What is it, Pa?" asked young Rojer, poking the smouldering
fire, and trying to recollect everything in the peaceful woodland
around them, "I know every tree and bird's nest in this grove. Is
it the wind? Is there something in these trees which I can't see?"
"It may be in the wind, or the rain, or the clouds, but they
are not it, for it can be seen and heard when they are still. If I
should string all the a-b-c's out in their order before you, they
wouldn't spell anything, would they?"
"No, sir."
"And yet you know the name of each letter, and you know
they can be arranged to spell any word and form any sentence."
"I know that about the letters, but I thought you were going
to tell me about the thing hiding among these quakingasps."
"Do you remember how printed pages looked to you before
you could read?"
"Oh, yes, they looked about like a Mexican newspaper looks
now."
"That's it — the things hiding in these trees are something
like the thoughts hiding in the Mexican newspaper. The words
488
IMPROVEMENT ERA
arc in sight on the paper, but to you they have no meaning. Now
in this grove you see the green leaves, and the nests and the
squirrels ; you see the clear water boil out of the hill-side, and
hear it ripple away down the canyon ; you hear the birds singing
and the wind blowing ; you hear the rain and the mild rustle of the
leaves, — but each one of these is only a letter in Nature's great
alphabet. Nature arranges these letters in groups, and if we
know them, we may read whole sentences and chapters. Do you
see what I mean?"
"Well, partly — I wouldn't know how to begin with such
letters."
"See what this spells : The rotten log is gray and brown —
the chipmunk lives in the log — the chipmunk is gray and brown,
so that he can hardly be seen when he sits still on the log."
"Oh, I couldn't guess that."
"See my pocket-knife, it has sharp blades, but they close
down and don't cut my pocket.
Now how did there happen to
be a knife of that kind?"
"Men made it just, to carry
in the pocket."
"Then the men who made
it, knew about pockets and
what they need. Now who
colored the chipmunk's coat
and why?'
"Oh, I see, the Lord suited
the chipmunk to the log — or —
the log to the chipmunk."
"Or both ? And what must
have prompted Him to do so
much for such a little crea-
ture?"
"It must have been love."
"That's it, — 'All around
and all above bear this record :
God is love.' The chipmunk
and the log may seem to you
a little matter, but from these
small beginnings, men have
learned to hold communion
with nature, and to understand
her various language. For
them 'she has a voice of glad-
ness and a smile, and she ex-
presses a healing sympathy' for all their heart-aches and sorrows.
I camp here to look and listen. The rich tint of these wild-
"The wind blowing through these big
pines means much to me."
VOICE OF THE INTANGIBLE 489
flowers, and the sparkle of the spring, and the happiness of the birds
in the trees, does me more good than you can imagine. The wind
blowing through these big pines means much to me, and as you
grow older you'll hear it say wonderful things ; it will talk of God
and plead the cause of men. I couldn't have borne with Josh so
long but for the words of this grove, and I want you to hear them,
because you'll meet many men like Josh."
"What good things can this grove say about him?"
"It says the Lord lets us live on earth to prove the kind of
stuff there is in us, and He brings Josh and me together that I
might have more chance to do good, and show my courage to be
fair while Josh is always so unfair. You are young, your blood is
hot, you like revenge for every injury. This voice will tame you
down like a colt is tamed, and you will see that as God is love for
man, so man ought to be love for God's children. This voice says
that as we pity the blind when they fall into the pit, so we ought
to pity the man so stupid and ignorant as to do the evil things
which fill his life with misery."
"Have you heard voices in these trees since we came here
first?"
"Yes, long before that, and not only here but in many places.
I have listened to it ever since I was a boy like you. I hope I'm
never too old to ride a horse, and hunt the good things of such
places as this."
Long after they had gone to bed, Ben lay quietly looking up
through the quakingasp limbs to the stars above, and listening to
the mild summer breeze that made the leaves to tremble. He
heard the whip-poor-will call from some indefinite place ; he heard
the howl of the coyote from the canyons below, and wished he
might read at once the mysterious meaning of it all. In it was
the voice of the Intangible, the words he could seldom under-
stand; but behold they could be understood, for his father with
the eyes and ears of a man could understand them. Oh the eyes
and ears of a man! they must be similar to the eves and ears of
God!
Next morning as they pulled on their boots, "I've heard that
voice you talked about last night," young Rojer asserted, "I've
heard it a long time, but I can't tell much of what it says."
"I felt sure you had, or I wouldn't have said so much," an-
swered his father. "It's a great thing to hear it, and a greater
thing still to comprehend it."
Ben named the bay colt Alec, and took great pride in this,
his first bronco. Alec had a white hind-foot, a snip of white on
the nose, black mane and tail, graceful carriage and good action.
Before the camp left Peavine, a bridle displaced the rope hacka-
more, the saddle went on and off with less difficulty, and the colt
half agreed to the strange requirements of his young master. Of
490 IMPROVEMENT ERA
course, he couldn't always refrain from bucking, — those cinches
were such ticklish thing's, and the rattle and squeak of the saddle
so different to the sounds he had heard. Yet he meant well, —
young Rojer looked into his big, frank, coltish eyes, and forgave
all his mischievous pranks, just as one big-hearted school-boy for-
gives another. "He don't want to be mean," Ben would say;
"he's just naturally good."
Alec was no dullard ; he soon learned that the brown-haired
boy was a good fellow to meet, and he arched his neck with real
pride when he carried young Rojer on his back. The Stripes-
love, which had languished for years, and grown particularly
heavy when the outfit passed Green-water, now rose up in a fresh,
new form, and lavished itself on the bay colt. He was taught to
whirl, to start on the keen jump, to stop short off, or go straight
ahead in good order while his master reached to the ground for a
dragging rope. He must learn to eat oats, wear hobbles, and
behave skilfully on the saddle-end of a lariat, for young Rojer
was becoming an adept with the lasso.
While Ben and Alec were becoming acquainted, the shaggy
old wag-tail contrived to make himself an essential element of that
acquaintance. Being always at young Rojer's heels, the old dog,
by some strange dog-instinct, discovered around the bay colt an
atmosphere of toleration, and upon it he promptly proceeded to
build a friendship which could have been no more complete, even
if Stripes had suddenly been resurrected from the bleaching bones
at Green-water. Alec was adopting new ways and associates, and
Bowse threw himself in at just the right time, and writh such per-
sistency of dog-devotion, that the colt accepted him as a necessary
part of the new performance, and a dog-horse love clinched itself
on both sides, before the horse discovered the dog to be his fellow-
servant.
Six weeks after the camp was moved from Peavine to town,
plenty of men looked at the bay colt and jingled their silver at the
boy and his father, but the father said, "He belongs to the boy,"
and the boy said, "No, sir-ee, I won't sell 'im."
(to be continued)
An Appropriate Text
It was the custom in a minister's family to have each mem-
ber repeat a verse from the Bible at the beginning of every meal.
One day the five-year-old son had been naughty, and was put at a
little table by himself by way of punishment. V/hen it came time
for his verse he said very solemnly, "Thou hast prepared a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies."
Tribute to Orson P. Arnold
BY GEORGE C. LAMBERT
In the death of Orson P. Arnold, I am deprived of the asso-
ciation of a friend whose companionship I dearly prized. I have
reason, too, for the belief that the friendship and love I entertained
for him were fully reciprocated. He was my David, and I his
Jonathan. I was reconciled to his death by the extended illness
that he endured, and I am now
consoled by the hope that our
association will be renewed in
a future existence, when he
will be freed from the bodily
ailments from which he suf-
fered in mortality.
In him was personified my
ideal of many manly virtues.
A truer or more loyal friend
probably never lived. He was
neither demonstrative nor ef-
fusive. He gushed not in
verbal expressions of friend-
ship, but expressed himself in
acts, rather than words, none
the less effectively. One
could not mistake his friend-
ship, or loyalty, for flattery or
sycophancy. He was gener-
ous, sympathetic, considerate,
and ready to serve his living
friends and to defend their
memories when dead. 0RS0N p- Arnold
His honesty was of that sterling kind that knew no com-
promise. He despised trickery, pretense, and shams of every kind,
and never would profit by the ignorance of a person with whom
he had dealings.
He was a truthful man. Some good men have the habit of
enlarging (perhaps unconsciously) upon things they relate from
memory, especially when they repeat the narrative many times,
and more especially when the narrative relates to their own ex-
ploits, and is favorable to them. Not so with Orson P. Arnold.
Whatever he said could be relied upon as unalloyed truth — though
possibly not the whole truth when it favorably related to himself.
492 IMPROVEMENT ERA
His disposition was over-modest and he was inclined to minimize
his own credits by suppressing any part that would show favorably
to himself. So far from being a braggart, he was even over-
modest.
Though reserved, he was frank, direct and emphatic, in
speech, and powerful in rebuke, when occasion required.
He was a most punctual man — never late in keeping an ap-
pointment or in meeting an obligation, very orderly and method-
ical in all that he did. His tastes were simple, his thoughts were
clean, and his language choice and respectful. He had wonderful
self-restraint, and seldom exhibited anger, however great the
provocation.
He had an excellent memory, was a keen observer, and was a
veritable encyclopedia of knowledge relating to things that had
come under his observation, even as far back as his childhood.
He more than made up by attentive listening for whatever he
lacked in volubility as a speaker. There was virtue in his taci-
turnity. He never bored anybody by talking, and seldom if ever
had reason to regret anything that he said. There are occasions
when silence serves better than speech, and he never missed any
of these that came his way. His reticence afforded ample time for
thought, and when he spoke he was usually laconic to a marked
degree, and displayed wisdom in what he said.
He had a high sense of honor, that led him to perform every
duty well. He gave his best service to whatever task he under-
took. He was determined and persistent, and hesitated at no self-
sacrifice that duty or his generous impulses demanded.
His courage was not of the transient or intermittent kind, but
constant as time, and unyielding as adamant. No one ever knew
him to quail. His nerve never forsook him in face of the most
appalling danger. Scores, possibly hundreds, of persons who
have seen him in the most perilous positions would, if asked, un-
hesitatingly declare, as Captain Lot Smith did, that they never
knew a braver man.
No Spartan ever bore pain more stoically than he did, and
It is endurance was equally marvelous. When, in 1857, the bullet
from a comrade's gun, accidentally discharged, shattered his thigh
bone, the wounded limb crumpled under him as he fell to the
ground. His companions raised him up, straightened his limb,
and staunched the flow of blood by use of a tourniquet. They
hastily improvised a stretcher, placed him on it, and hurriedly
resumed their journey, carrying him as best they could, for they
were in great danger. They told of the agony he endured, as
evidenced by the perspiration that covered his face and saturated
his clothing while he was thus carried for thirty miles ! The
torture of thirst was added to his bodily pain, during that awful
journey. It was a wonder he did not lose his reason. The sub-
TRIBUTE TO ORSON P. ARNOLD 493
sequent jolting, as the journey homeward was continued by
wagon for a distance of over two hundred miles, was a change,
but no relief, to his suffering, heroically and uncomplainingly
endured.
The crude surgery then available failing to afford other
relief than the removal from the wound of the shattered portion
of the main thigh bone, five inches in length, the suffering he
endured the ensuing few years while by slow process the cartilage
was forming to take the place of the lost bone must be imagined —
he never described it ! His ambitious and independent nature
impelled him to action, and he served as gate keeper at President
Young's while still hobbling about on crutches.
From childhood, he had been passionately fond of horses,
and previous to being shot was an expert horseman. He was
scarcely able to bear any weight on the wounded limb when he
again began practicing riding, notwithstanding the fact that dis-
use for so long a period had rendered the knee of the wounded
limb rigid, and the exercise must have caused him excruciating
pain. He persevered, and in time was able to maintain his seat
in the saddle with equanimity, and, as his friends fondly hoped,
with ease.
When, in the spring of 1866, the atrocities committed by In-
dians in Sanpete and Sevier counties became frequent and un-
bearable, he, with others, volunteered to go to the relief of the
settlers, under command of Colonel Heber P. Kimball. It was a
very strenuous campaign, extending over three months. Not
only did he bear his full share of all the duties involved therein,
but he performed special service by leading a small detachment
on an extra hazardous and tiresome expedition, and all without
his comrades knowing that he was not free from suffering as
they were. Not until within two weeks of his death did I, who
have enjoyed his confidence perhaps more than any one outside
of his own family, even suspect the extent of his suffering. While
calling upon him, as I did almost daily during his illness, I asked
him, one morning, almost casually, how long it took for his
wound to heal up after he was shot. He hesitated some time
before replying, and then said in a whisper, as if fearful of ad-
mitting it : "It never did heal up !" Amazed, I responded : "You
must have been in agony, then, every dav while you served on
the Indian expedition, in 1866." He simply nodded assent. On
being pressed further to know if the exertion of ridinof horseback
didn't cause the wound to suppurate, he reluctantly admitted that
the discharge from the wound ran down into his boot every day.
Was human suffering or endurance ever less obtrusive? Did
sympathy for one's fellows ever find more sincere expression ?
The fact that all who served on those Indian expeditions did
so without hope of earthly reward, is not worth mentioning in
494 IMPROVEMENT ERA
comparison with the infinite sacrifice that he made to serve!
Some men are so eager for sympathy that they want their friends
to know of every ailment they have. Orson P. Arnold was so
self-contained and reserved that he didn't want his friends to
know that he ever had an ailment. I am sure from his manner
that he never intended to reveal that family skeleton to anyone.
But how a knowledge of it glorifies acts and habits of his life that
otherwise would seem commonplace ! How remarkable that he
kept full abreast of his stalwart fellows in the activities of life
with such a physical handicap! The fact that it was his daily
habit to arise at daybreak, pursue his tasks diligently through-
out the day, frequently with great bodily exertion, and often
maintain sleepless vigils at night, for friendship's sake, now be-
comes a marvel !
Soon after he was wounded a number of doctors examined
the wound and united in urging that the limb be amputated. This
President Brigham Young objected to, saying that he would yet
be able to walk without crutches. He did, but probably never
without suffering more or less pain — which latter fact, however,
he was careful to conceal from his friends. It is doubtful whether
President Young, whom he served for about twenty years in dif-
ferent capacities, ever even suspected it.
How the great leader ever became attracted to or interested
in Orson P. Arnold is probably not known. Possibly because he
seemed to know intuitively who were entitled to an audience with
the president, and had the faculty of turning the others away
without offending them, he was employed as gate or door keeper.
Perhaps his skill in the management of horses led to his selection
as coachman. Very likely his habitual silence and absolute fidelity
recommended him for confidential service : added to his coolness
and undoubted courage, for extra hazardous undertakings. His
self-reliance, his untiring persistency and scrupulous honesty, may
have secured for him positions of trust and responsibility ; but
they all came to him without his seeking.
He never refused to do anything required ; he never quibbled
about the hours he served, or the compensation allowed. Fatigue,
fasting, exposure to the elements, had no terrors for him, and he
never allowed them to interfere with his success. He could serve
without servility, bear responsibility without conceit, and exercise
power without arrogance. And so it happened, in the course of
time, that his occupation in Brigham Young's emplov ranged all
the way from gate-keeper, or body-guard, to financial agent, or
builder and superintendent of a street railway.
He loved and revered his employer, and that great man
treated him, not as a servant, not as an ordinary employee, but
as a friend, a companion, a confidant, a man upon whom he could
rely, and who was deserving of the highest trust. And vet, upon
TRIBUTE TO ORSON P. ARNOLD 495
more than one occasion, that great and good man suspected or
blamed Orson P. Arnold for a time for occurrences that dis-
pleased him, and that without just cause. Orson at such times
knew who was to blame, and could have established his own in-
nocence by the utterance of a sentence, but he maintained silence.
He would neither be a tale-bearer, nor seek favor at the expense
of others. He could afford to be misjudged, but he could not
afford to do anything mean or petty. He could not show by even
so much as a look or act that he was aware of being suspected.
He could only maintain his habitual composure, do his duty as
ever, and leave it to time to vindicate him, as it always did. But
how hard it is to bear the displeasure of one we love more than
life ! ,
Perhaps the recollection of Orson's invariable habit of
frankly acknowledging every mistake he made, and assuming
responsibility for every act that did not result as hoped for, con-
vinced President Young of the innocence of his suspected servant.
Possibly the conviction came from inspiration (which he most
assuredly enjoyed) but come it always did, in time. And then
would follow the assurance — not in words, but in the kindly look,
in the warm hand-clasp, or in the confidential commission, that
faith in his integrity was restored, that the bond of trust was as
strong as ever! How complete that trust was, President Young
probably never expressed in words, but it was indicated, occa-
sionally, when his personal safety seemed to be menaced, by the
quiet direction, as he was about to retire for the night : "Orson,
the door of the house may be left open. I shall sleep all right, if
you will make your bed just within, across the doorway."
After the death of Brigham Young, how comforting to
Orson must have been the consciousness that the trust reposed in
him by that great man was never misplaced ! What a cordial
meeting between the two must have occurred when Orson P.
Arnold passed from this life !*
After President Young's death, Orson P. Arnold was inti-
mately associated with, and equally loyal to, his successors, and
was trusted by them to the fullest extent. His service during
what is known as the "Crusade" may never be fully recorded on
earth, but I feel sure that it is in heaven, and that it will stand to
his eternal credit. In some respects that was the most trying
time of his life. The Church leaders were made special targets.
It was the greatest ambition of Orson's life, though a sufferer
with them, to be of service to them. He would have died rather
than betray them as he was solicited to do. * * * * * *
During O. P. Arnold's connection with the street railway
system of Salt Lake City, which extended from its inception to
thirty years later, he bore great responsibility, and always with
*See Jan., 1913, Era, p. 276.
496 IMPROVEMENT ERA
becoming modesty. He employed many thousands of men dur-
ing that time, treated them humanely, and fairly, and had the
reputation of getting the utmost amount of work out of them,
and withal retained their respect. If any man failed to under-
stand what was required of him, he was capable of and not above
showing him. When mules were the motive power, if any of the
animals displayed a fractious spirit, and the drivers could not
manage them, he had a habit of jumping on the car himself and
bringing the mules into subjection. In all the circles in which
he moved, he was a man among men — calm, dignified, reserved,
self-respecting and respected.
He was a domestic man, enjoyed the society of his family;
provided well for them; was thrifty and frugal, and did his full
duty in the matter of securing those dependent upon him against
future want.
During the last ten years of his life, since retiring from active
business pursuits, he devoted much time and attention to the
welfare of his comrades of the Indian wars. If any were sick, he
visited and sought to comfort them ; and when one died, he mani-
fested sympathy for the family and respect for the dead, by at-
tending the funeral and seeing that flowers were provided. He
perhaps never heard of the axiom which Bishop Hunter used to
relate, as having been impressed upon him by his father — always
so to conduct himself that people would invite him up, and never
order him down — but he exemplified it in his life. In attending
funerals with his comrades, he never even presumed to occupy
voluntarily a conspicuous seat, and wouldn't think of proffering
to take part in the ceremonies. I was personally gratified at the
respect and sympathy manifested by the Indian War Veterans on
the occasion of his funeral. Seventy-five of them were in attend-
ance. Their commander will be greatly missed by them.
My friend viewed his approaching death with the same sedate
self-possession that had characterized him through life. He said
he was not conscious of having injured any one in life, and had
no dread of a coming judgment. He was thoroughly appreciative
of all that was done for his comfort, and received everv care and
attention from his family that love and sympathy could prompt.
I fully sympathize with them in the great bereavement which has
befallen them. I congratulate them on having had such a hus-
band, such a sire, and mvself on having had such a friend. I
hope his numerous posterity will emulate the noble qualities pos-
sessed by their sire (some of which are herein mentioned V, and
that Orson P. Arnold will always have representatives to bear his
name in honor in the cause to which he devoted his life. This is
the earnest desire I have concerning the family, to whom I dedi-
cate this sketch which so feebly expresses the esteem I had for
my dear departed friend.
The Gospel to the Lamanites
BY REY L. PRATT, PRESIDENT OF THE MEXICAN MISSION
/ — Introduction
The subject at hand is so intimately connected with the great
Latter-day work known as "Mormonism," and forms such a prom-
inent part of the Book of Mormon teachings that one would think
that most of the members of the Church would be perfectly fa-
miliar with, and enthusiastic over, it. And such is the case, in a
general way, but, I fear, and that, too, basing my belief on obser-
vations I made while on a recent trip through some of the stakes
and wards of Zion, that far too many of our young folks, and,
for that matter, of the older members of the Church, are not as
familiar with, and as interested in, this great subject as it is their
privilege to be.
I hope in this article to show that the work of carrying the
gospel to the Lamanites is one of great importance, and one that
is worth while to us, as well as to them ; one rather to be desired
than avoided, and one that must be performed by us, because the
Lord has promised this people, through their forefathers, that the
gospel, and their redemption through it, would come to them
through us— through the Church of Christ.
77 — Who are the Lamanites, and How Came They to Be Such?
In I Nephi 1 :4, Book of Mormon, we read :
For it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the
reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, (my father Lehi having dwelt at
Jerusalem in all his days;) and in that same year there came many
prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the
great city of Jerusalem must be destroyed.
We learn from I Nephi 5:14, that Lehi was a descendant of
Jacob, through his son Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. Lehi
lifted up his heart in mighty prayer in behalf of his people ; as a
result of his prayer, he received a wonderful and mighty vision
from the Lord, in which he foresaw the destruction of Jerusalem,
and her people carried away into captivity. After he had received
this vision he went forth among the people and testified unto them
of their wickedness and abominations, and also of the things that
he had seen and heard ; but he was only mocked and persecuted
498 IMPROVEMENT ERA
by the Jews, and they sought to take away his life. Nephi re-
cords (I Nephi 2:1-4) that the word of the Lord again came unto
his father, as follows :
For behold it came to pass that the Lord spake again unto my
father, yea, even in a dream, and said unto him, Blessed art thou
Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done; and because thou
hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I
commanded thee, behold they seek to take away thy life.
And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even
in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wil-
derness.
And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the
Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him.
And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And
he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and
his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save
it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the
wilderness.
This departure of Lehi and his family out of the land of Jeru-
salem occurred six hundred years before Christ. His family con-
sisted of his wife, Sariah, and his four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam,
and Nephi. They were afterwards joined by Ishmael and his fam-
ily, and Zoram, the servant of Laban.
Their history, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, shows that
the two older sons, Laman and Lemuel, were rebellious unto their
father and unto the Lord, and did not keep the commandments of
the Lord ; while Sam and Nephi were obedient sons, and faithful
in their observance of the commandments of the Lord. Early
trouble arose between Nephi and his two older brothers, and on
many occasions, because of their great wickedness, they even
sought to take away his life. Their conduct caused great anguish,
in the heart of Nephi, and he was grieved because of the hardness
of their hearts, and he cried unto the Lord in their behalf, and the
word of the Lord came unto him as follows (I Nephi 2:19-24) :
* * * Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou
hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.
And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall pros-
per, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I
have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other
lands.
And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall
be cut off from the presence of the Lord.
And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my comandments, thou shalt be
made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren.
THE GOSPEL TO THE LAMANITES 499
For behold, in that day they shall rebel against me, I will
curse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over
thy seed, except they rebel against me also.
And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a scourge
unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance.
From the foregoing quotations we see that all that has hap-
pened to the Lamanites was plainly foreseen and foretold when
they were scarcely started on their way to the promised land. In
fact, all of the conditions that have existed throughout their his-
tory, and that still exist among them, were plainly foretold by the
prophets of the Lord, and are recorded in the Book of Mormon.
The history of the travels of Father Lehi and his family,
through the wilderness, and the building of a ship in which to
cross the mighty waters that separated them from the land of
promise, and which they built in obedience to the command of the
Lord, and in accordance to the pattern and model given to Nephi
by him ; and then their long and perilous journey over the mighty
waters to the promised land ; their landing there, and the estab-
lishing of themselves in the land ; the great visions received from
the Lord by Lehi and his faithful son Nephi, and the remarkable
way in which the hand of the Lord was over them, to guide and
protect them, is all very interesting history, but space will not per-
mit us to follow it in detail here. It will be seen, however, by a
careful perusal of this remarkable and interesting history, that
the two older sons of Lehi, Laman and Lemuel, and the daughters
of Ishmael, whom they took to wife, and the sons of Ishmael, were
often rebellious and disobedient, even to the extent of wanting,
and trying, to take the life of their younger brother Nephi who,
because of his faithfulness and obedience to his father's counsel,
and to the commandments of the Lord, was greatly blessed of the
Lord. He was permitted, in fulfilment of promise, to become a
teacher and a ruler over his brethren. At times, through great
manifestations of the power of the Lord, these rebellious sons
were made to feel his power and humble themselves, repenting of
their sins. But their repentance and humility were always short-
lived, and they continually fell back into their condition of error
and rebellion, and consequent state of darkness of mind.
This division in the family of Lehi grew worse after the little
colony was established in the promised land, even to the extreme
that it was impossible for Nephi and those who listened to his
counsel, and who lived in accordance with the commandments of
the Lord, to live with their brethren of the other faction in the
land where they first settled. Nephi, himself, describes the condi-
tions thus (II Nephi 5) :
Behold it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cry much unto the Lord
my God, because of the anger of my brethren.
500 IMPROVEMENT ERA
But behold, their anger did increase against me; insomuch that
they did seek to take away my life.
Yea, they did murmur against me, saying: Our younger brother
thinks to rule over us; and we have had much trial because of him;
wherefore, now let us slay him, that we may not be afflicted more
because of his words. For behold, we will not have him to be our
ruler; for it belongs unto us, who are the elder brethren, to rule over
this people.
Now I do not write upon these plates, all the words which they
murmured against me. But it sufficeth me to say, that they did seek
to take away my life.
And it came to pass that the Lord did warn me, that I, Nephi,
should depart from them, and flee into the wilderness, and all those
who would go with me.
* * * And all those who were with me did take upon them
to call themselves the people of Nephi.
* * * And I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban, and after the
manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people
who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy
us; for 1 knew their hatred towards me and my children, and those
who were called my people.
* * * And behold, the words of the Lord had been fulfiled
unto my brethren, which he spake concerning them, that I should be
their ruler and their teacher; wherefore, I had been their ruler and
their teacher, according to the comandments of the Lord, until the
time they sought to take away my life.
Wherefore, the word of the Lord was fulfiled which he spake
unto me, saying: That inasmuch as they will not hearken unto thy
words, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And
behold, they were cut off from his presence.
And he caused a cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore
cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened
their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint;
wherefore, as they were white and exceeding fair and delightsome,
that they might not be enticing unto my people, the Lord God did
cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.
And thus saith the Lord God, I will cause that they shall be
loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.
And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed;
for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord
spake it and it was done.
And because of their cursing, which was upon them, they did be-
come an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the
wilderness for beasts of prey.
Thus came about the division of the family of Lehi into two
factions, which grew into two numerous and mighty nations upon
THE GOSPEL TO THE LAMANITES 501
this continent ; and, from the foregoing, we learn that the Laman-
ites, although a cursed nation, are of the house of Israel, through
Lehi, who was a literal descendant of Joseph who was sold into
Egypt ; and that their curse and their present condition came upon
them in fulfilment of prophecy, and because of their disobedience
to the Lord and his commandments, and of their hardening their
hearts against him.
It is interesting to note, through reading the history of the
Lamanites, as contained in the Book of Mormon, how literally the
prophecies of the Lord, made concerning them, have been fulfiled.
Their descent from a civilized and a "white and exceeding fair
and delightsome people," into a "dark and a loathsome and a filthy
people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations," was in-
deed very rapid.
However, the Nephites did not cease to strive to convert their
brethren from the error of their ways, and to restore them to the
truth and thereby redeem them from their fallen condition. But
it seems that for many years their efforts in this direction were in
vain, for the Lamanites not only refused to listen to, and obey
their teachings, but they sought to destroy the records which Lehi
had brought from Jerusalem, and also to destroy the people of
Nephi who were striving to live in accordance with the command-
ments of the Lord.
The prophet Enos, in his short writings, after telling of the
great desires of his heart for the redemption of his brethren, the
Lamanites, says :
•
For at the present, our strugglings were vain in restoring them
to the true faith. And they swore in their wrath, that if it were pos-
sible, they would destroy our records and us; and, also, all the tradi-
tions of our fathers.
* * * And I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek dil-
igently to restore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God. But our
labors were vain; their hatred was fixed, and they were led by their
evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a bloodthirsty
people; full of idolatry and filthiness: feeding upon beasts of prey;
dwelling in tents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short
skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven: and their skill
was in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them
did eat nothing save it was raw meat; and they were continually seek-
ing to destroy us."
Their condition, through all the long ages, from then till now,
has remained practically the same. True it is that through the
teachings of the Nephites, many of them have been converted to
the truth, and the sore curse that was theirs has been removed,
because of their change from an evil to a good life. But this only
502 IMPROVEMENT ERA
further proves that the promises of the Lord cannot fail, because
he said the curse was only to remain with them as long as they
remained disobedient, and wicked, and would not listen to the
commandments of the Lord, and obey him. At no time in their
history, however, is it recorded of them that all of them have
turned from their evil ways, and that the curse has been lifted
from them, as a people, except for the two hundred years which
preceded the coming of Christ to the people upon this continent,
and the establishment of his gospel among them. Of this time
spoken of, we are told, in IV Nephi 1, that in the thirty-sixth year
after the birth of Christ, "the people were all converted to the
Lord, upon the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites,
and there were no contentions among them, and every man did
deal justly one with another."
But, as I have said, this condition did not endure among
them ; men began to be lifted up in the pride of their hearts, and
to forget their God, and ceased to keep his commandments. Class
distinctions, secret societies, man-made churches, and wars and
strife and bloodshed, and all manner of evil, began to creeo in
among them. Part of the people remained true to their faith
in their God and in his gospel, but many were led away by false
teachers into all manner of iniquity, insomuch that in the two hun-
dred and thirty-first year there was a great division among the
people, and thev began to be known again by the names that had
distinguished them of old. Those who remained faithful were
called Nephites, and those who turned awav into evil paths, and
to false religions, were called Lamanites. The curse of old came
upon the Lamanites, and the old and terrible spirit of hatred
and strife and bloodshed came between the two peoples, and
there began to be wars and bloodshed in the land.
Nephi saw in prophetic vision, even before he and his father
and his brethren had reached the promised land, that these condi-
tions would overcome his seed, and the seed of his brethren, for,
not onlv did the Lamanites become a wicked people, but not long
after the division of these people, just spoken of, the Nephites also
became a wicked people and forsook their God. Nephi relates the
vision he saw as follows (I Nephi 12:19-23) :
And while the angel spake these words, I beheld and saw that
the seed of my brethren did contend against my seed, according to
the word of the angel; and because of the pride of my seed, and the
temptations of the devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did
overpower the people of my seed.
And it came to pass that I beheld and saw the people of the seed
of my brethren, that they had overcome my seed; and they went
forth in multitudes upon the face of the land.
And T saw them gathered together in multitudes; and I saw wars
THE GOSPEL TO THE LAMANITES
503
and rumors of wars among them; and in wars and rumors of wars, I
saw many generations pass away.
And the angel said unto me, Behold these shall dwindle in un-
belief.
And it came to pass that I beheld after they had dwindled in un-
belief, they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full
of idleness and all manner of abominations.
This great climax, spoken of by Nephi, culminating in the
extinction of the Nephites, as a race, at the hands of their breth-
ren, the Lamanites, took place in the year four hundred and twenty
after Christ, and three hundred and eighty-seven years after the
establishment of the true gospel among the people of this land, by
no other person than the Christ himself ; and the Lamanites went
forth in multitudes upon the face of the land, and, having over-
come all other enemies, continued to satisfy their thirst for blood
by wars and butcheries among themselves. And in this condition
they remained until the discovery of America by the Europeans,
and in a measure to the present day.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
["The Lamanites After the Coming of the Europeans" will be
discussed in the next paper.]
Elder W. C. Jefferies writes from Barnsley, England, December 18:
"I have spent most of my time in this branch and consider it a very
good place to labor. I
find many good people
in my travels, among
both Saints and friends.
Some of the latter, also,
generally attend our
Sunday night meetings.
We hold a cottage meet-
ing each week for the
deaf and dumb, and the
elders here find much
pleasure in speaking to
them through Brother
James Benfell, interpreter, who is at the head of the deaf and dumb
school in Barnsley. Elders, left to right: J. A. Vannesse, Smithfield;
W. C. Jefferies, president of the branch, Grantsville; A. L. Riggs,
president of the conference, Logan; L. P. Burt, Brigham City; T.
Shepherd, Provo, Utah."
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Department of Vocations and Industries
BY B. II . ROBERTS
VII — What to Suggest to Boys
Our association committeemen are at a loss to know what to
suggest to the boys, either directly on the subject of vocations, or
on those topics related to that theme. As matter of the latter sort,
we recently picked up a book containing the article herewith
quoted, by James Thompson Fields, an American author of New
Hampshire and Massachusetts, which suggests many themes for
conversation that have more or less relation to better general
preparation for vocations and general industrial life ; and suggest
that our association committeemen take up the several topics in
direct conversation with their individual members, and get them
to adopt one or more of these suggestions of Mr. Fields ; and if
one member can be induced to undertake to carry out in practice
one thing, and another some other thing in the list of things sug-
gested, an association might be engaged in carrying into effect
nearly all the suggestions made.
In any event, we submit to the committeemen the several sug-
gestions of Mr. Fields :
IF I WERE A BOY AGAIN
When we are no longer young we look back and see where we
might have done better and learned more; and the thigs we have neg-
lected rise up and mortify us every day of our lives. May I enum-
erate some of the more important matters, large and small, that, if I
were a boy again, I would be more particular about?
I think I would learn to use my left hand just as freely as my
right one, so that if anything happened to lame either of them the other
would be all ready to write and handle things, just as if nothing had
occurred. There is no reason in the world why both hands should
not be educated alike. A little practice would render one set of fingers
just as expert as the other; and I have known people who never
thought, when a thing was to be done, which particular hand ought
to do it, but the hand nearest the object took hold of it, and
I would learn the art of using tools of various sorts. I think I
would insist on learning some trade, even if I knew there would be
no occasion to follow it when I grew up. What a pleasure it is in
after life to be able to "make something," as the saying is — to con-
struct a neat box to hold one's pen and paper; or a pretty cabinet for
DEPARTMENT OF VOCATIONS AND INDUSTRIES 505
a sister's library; or to frame a favorite engraving for a Christmas
present to a dear, kind mother. What a loss not to know how to mend
a chair that refuses to stand up strong only because it needs a few
tacks and a bit of leather here and there! Some of us cannot even
drive a nail straight; and should we attempt to saw off an obtrusive
piece of wood, ten to one we should lose a finger in the operation. It
is a pleasant relaxation from books and study to work an hour every
day in a tool-shop; and my friend, the learned and lovable Professor
Oliver Wendell Holmes, finds such a comfort in "mending things,"
when his active brain needs repose, that he sometimes breaks a piece
of furniture on purpose that he may have the relief of putting it to-
gether again much better than it was before. He is as good a me-
chanic as he is a poet. * * * *
I think I would ask permission, if I happened to be born in a city,
to have the opportunity of passing all my vacations in the country,
that I might learn the names of trees and flowers and birds. We are,
as a people, sadly ignorant of all accurate rural knowledge. We guess
at many country things, but we are certain of very few. It is inex-
cusable in a grown-up person, like my amiable neighbor Simpkins,
who lives from May to November on a farm of sixty acres, in a beau-
tiful wooded country, not to know a maple from a beech, or a bobolink
from a cat-bird. He once handed me a bunch of pansies, and called
them violets; and on another occasion he mistook sweetpeas for
geraniums. What right has a human being, while the air is full of
bird-music, to be wholly ignorant of the performer's name? When
we go to opera, we are fully posted with regard to all the principal
singers; and why should we know nothing of the owners of voices
that far transcend the vocal powers of Jenny Lind and Christine
Nilsson? * * * *
If I were a boy again I would have a blank-book in which I could
record, before going to bed, every day's events just as they happened
to me personally. < If I began by writing only two lines a day in my
diary, I could start my little book, and faithfully put down what hap-
pened to interest me. On its pages I would note down the habits of
birds and animals as I saw them; and if the horse fell ill, down should
go the malady in my book; and what cured him should go there, too.
If the cat or dog showed any peculiar traits, they should all be chron-
icled in my diary; and nothing worth recording should escape
me. * * * *
If I were a boy again, one of the first things I would strive to do
would be this: I would, as soon as possible, try hard to become ac-
quainted with, and then deal honestly with, myself; to study up my own
deficiencies and capabilities: and I would begin early enough, before
faults had time to become habits. I would seek out earnestly all
the weak spots in my character, and then go to work speedily and
mend them with better material. If I found that I zvas capable of some
one thing in a special degree, I would ask counsel on that point of some
506 IMPROVEMENT ERA
judicious friend; and if advised to pursue it, I would devote myself to that
particular matter, to the exclusion of much that is foolishly allowed in
boyhood. * * * *
If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of atten-
tion oftener; I would let nothing come between me and the subject
in hand. I would remember that an expert on the ice never tries to
skate in two directions at once. One of our great mistakes while we
are young is that we do not attend strictly to what we are about just
then — at that particular moment. We do not bend our energies close
enough to what we are doing or learning. We wander into a half-
interest only, and so never acquire fully what is needful for us to be-
come master of. The practice of being habitually attentive is one
easily attained, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown-up
people say, "I couldn't fix my attention on the sermon, or the book,
although I wished to do so." And the reason is that a habit of atten-
tion was never formed in youth. * * * *
If I were a boy again, I would know more about the history of
my own country than is usual, I am sorry to say, with young Ameri-
cans. When in England I have always been impressed with the
minute and accurate knowledge constantly observable in young Eng-
lish lads of average intelligence and culture concerning the history of
Great Britain. They not only have a clear and available store of his-
torical dates at hand for use on any occasion, but they have a wonder-
fully good idea of the policy of government adopted by all the prom-
inent statesmen in different eras down to the present time. * * * *
If the history of any country is worth an earnest study, it is surely
the history of our own land; and we cannot begin too early in our lives
to master it fully and completely. What a confused notion of distin-
guished Americans a boy must have to reply, as one did not long ago
when asked by his teacher, "Who was Washington Irving?" "A Gen-
eral in the Revolutionary War, sir." (!)****
If I were a boy again, I would strive to become a fearless person.
I would cultivate courage as one of the highest achievements of life.
"Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing is so cruel and
vindictive as cowardice," says the wise author of a late essay on "Con-
duct." Too many of us nowadays are overcome by fancied lions in
the way that have never existed out of our own brains. Nothing is so
credulous as fear. Some weak minded horses are forever looking
around for white stones to shy at; and if we are hunting for terrors,
they will be sure to turn up in some shape or other. We are too prone
to borrow trouble, and anticipate evils that may never appear. "The
fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear." Abraham Lincoln once said that
he never crossed Fox River, no matter how high the stream was,
"until he came to it." Dangers will arise in any career, but presence
of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any
fate, and there is no harm to be feared. * * * *
If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side of every-
DEPARTMENT OF VOCATIONS AND INDUSTRIES 507
thing; for everything, almost, has a cheerful side. Life is very much
like a mirror; if you smile upon it, it smiles back again on you; but if
you frown and look doubtful upon it, you will be sure to get a similar
look in return. I once heard it said of a grumbling, unthankful person,
"He would have made an uncommonly fine sour apple, if he had hap-
pened to be born in that station of life." Inner sunshine warms not
only the heart of the owner, but all who come in contact with it. In-
difference begets indifference. "Who shuts love out, in turn will be
shut out of love." * * * *
If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy
towards my companions and friends. Indeed I would rigorously exact
it of myself towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies, inter-
spersed along the rough roads of life, are like the little English spar-
rows now singing to us all winter long, and making that season of ice
and snow more endurable to everybody. But I have talked long
enough, and this shall be my parting paragraph: Instead of trying so
hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if
I were a boy again, try still harder to deserve happiness.
THE MAPUSAGA L. D. S. SCHOOL BAND,
Which made the journey to Upolu and Savaii. Elder M. V. Coombs,
the leader, is standing in the rear.
Editors' Table
The Resurrection
At this season of the year when nature is about to awaken to
renewed life from winter's sleep, one's thoughts naturally turn to
the resurrection.
Some have thought that a comparison of the resurrection of
the body of man, and his return to* life after death, with the re-
vival of the plants and nature at the return of spring, is objection-
able, and not pertinent as an illustration of the resurrection. To
some extent, of course, this is true. Such persons argue that
human research fails to find any comparison, between the awak-
ening of nature and the resurrection of the body. They declare
that in no instance in nature has there been an actual death. If
the trees, or the grass, or the pupa within the chrysalis, die, there
will be no resumption of leafage, no butterfly, with the return of
spring. Life sleeps with the apparently dead in nature. The
comparison so often made that as each returning spring brings
life to the slumbering acorn, and the tree stripped of its leaves, so
also shall renewed life be given to the body in the resurrection, —
is a statement untrue in analogy, they argue ; for this reason, that
life slumbers with the buried acorn, and in the tree stripped of its
foliage, but this is not so with the body, for that is dead even as
the killed tree or the lifeless acorn, neither of which would revive.
But it is no greater mystery, to my mind, for God who has
all power, to re-unite the essential elements of the dead body of
man with the living, eternal spirit, thus forming the resurrected
soul, than for him to re-clothe with a new plant, each returning
spring, the mysterious life of the slumbering seed ; or the stripped
and naked tree, with a new covering of foliage.
In the New Testament the resurrection of man is not only
taken for granted but it forms a part of Christ's doctrinal system :
"He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is
passed from death unto life, ***** for as the Father
EDITORS' TABLE 509
hath life in himself so has he given to the Son to have life in
himself, * * * * All that are in the graves shall hear his
voice, and shall come forth; if they have done good, unto the
resurrection of good; and if they have done evil, unto the resur-
rection of damnation." (John 5 :24-29.)
That Jesus arose from the dead, and so became an example
of what we are to do, is attested by such an array of scriptural
proofs that no believer in the inspired records can have a doubt
of the fact. The angel testified to the women at the sepulchre —
"He is not here, for he is risen, as he said." He showed him-
self to many in Jerusalem, and besides manifested himself to the
Nephites, on this continent, where prophets taught the doctrine
and foretold his resurrection : "The spirit and the body shall be
re-united again in its perfect form ; both limb and joint shall be
restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time,"
writes Alma.
Mormon declares : "The death of Christ bringeth to pass the
resurrection, which bringeth to pass redemption from an endless
sleep from which all men shall be awakened by the power of
God."
In the Book of Mormon we have many of the most striking
testimonies of the fact of a literal resurrection, and these facts
are with certainty confirmed by modern revelation to the Prophet
Joseph Smith : "They shall look for me ; and, behold, I will come ;
* * * * An angel shall sound his trump, and the Saints
that have slept shall come forth to meet me in the cloud ; where-
fore, if ye have slept in peace, blessed are you, for as you now
behold me and know that I am, even so shall ye come unto me,
and your souls [spirits and bodies united] shall live, and your
redemption shall be perfected." (Doc. and Cov. 45:44-46.)
Nature ; the testimony of the New Testament ; the personal
teachings and example of Christ ; His appearance among his dis-
ciples before His ascension, and on this continent; the written
declarations of the prophets in the Book of Mormon ; and the
revelations of God to the Prophet Joseph Smith, in united, unmis-
taken voice all testify to the fact of the literal resurrection of the
body.
Guided by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, by faith in God, in the
testimony of his prophets and in the scriptures, I accept the doc-
510 IMPROVEMENT ERA
trine of the resurrection with all my heart, and rejoice at its con-
firmation in nature with the awakening of each returning spring.
The Spirit of God testifies to me, and has revealed to me, to my
complete, personal satisfaction, that there is life after death, and
that the body which we lay down here will be re-united with our
spirits to become a perfect soul, capable of receiving a fulness of
joy in the presence of God.
Joseph F. Smith.
Card Playing
A correspondent has sent a request that we say something of
the position we take on card-playing. Heretofore, I have written
upon it, both in this magazine and others, and spoken of it many
times before the congregations of the Saints. Personally, and
always I am positively and insistently opposed to the Latter-
day Saints playing cards, either at home, in private circles, in
public, at socials or at any other gathering of the people. Our
correspondent further states that he wishes to know how to meet
the argument of a number of young ladies in his settlement who
are or should be workers in the Sunday School and other organi-
zations of the ward, who insist on playing cards "in their private
parties or gatherings, of three or four, and so on, when they get
together for an evening's visit." They argue that they just play
among themselves and enjoy it; they do not play for money; they
play in their own homes, so they are not, as they claim, setting
anyone else an example outside of their own circle of friends, and
for that reason cannot see where they are doing any harm. They
feel, also, and have so expressed it, that "anyone who opposes
them is interfering with their personal liberty." They say further
"that certain persons in high standing in the community have their
card parties ; they nevertheless, go to meeting, and are treated as
the best of people ;" so that, "if it is right for these people to play
cards in social parties, it cannot be wrong for us in our private
parties."
Our correspondent further states that he has even heard of
"certain High Priests who play cards when they ought to be in
EDITORS' TABLE 511
meeting on Sunday." He wishes us to tell him how to meet the
arguments of the young ladies. If there is any truth in what he
says he has heard about "certain High Priests," they should be
dealt with for their fellowship.
It appears to me a very simple matter to meet such argu-
ments. It is just as sinful in the sight of the Lord to do an evil
secretly or in the home, as it is to do one publicly, and it has
practically the same effect upon the person who does the evil act,
although the evil results may not be so far-reaching as if done in
public. No person can play cards, or smoke, or drink, or do any
other forbidden thing, in his home, by himself or among his per-
sonal friends, without being guilty of wrong doing just as much
as if he did all these things in public. We cannot be hypocrites,
and whatever we do should be worthy, of course, of being done
openly and above board, if we would be effective teachers. No
young lady can teach children in the Sabbath School the -evils of
card-playing, who plays cards in her home society, or with her
personal friends. The teachings of such will have no good effect,
because her heart will not be in it, and example and habit are
stronger than words. The same may be said of every other per-
son, including "High Priests," and "certain persons in high
standing."
I have stated heretofore why I hold that card-playing is
wrong. In the first place, it results in the useless waste of valua-
ble time ; secondly, the practice leads to the public card table,
thence to the saloon, to gambling, and to ruin and shame. These
facts can be easily demonstrated by the history of men who have
begun the game, intending not to carry it farther than for pass-
time and pleasure in their private homes, but who have gradually
become infatuated — crazed — with it, and left the home, and taken
up with companions who have easily led them from card-playing
for fun or amusement, to playing cards for money and intoxicating
drink, which course most certainly leads to destruction. I am abso-
lutely opposed to playing cards in homes, in social gatherings, pri-
vately or publicly, and this applies as much to those our correspond-
ent calls "certain persons in high standing," as it does to the young
lady or the young man who is or should be teaching in the Sabbath
Schools even in the remotest village or, community in the Church.
Joseph F. Smith.
Messages From the Missions
This picture shows a com-
pany in a pleasant walk of nine
or ten miles, from a little side
railroad station. The people are
O. D. Romney, president of the
New Zealand mission, his wife,
and one of their missionary
sons, Melbourne, and Brother
Peter Merrick, with his little,
heavily-laden pony. The next picture shows the object of their visit,
the poor, but faithful, family of Brother Merrick's, who have been
members of the Church for twenty years past. They are so isolated
that they seldom see an elder. Sister Romney is the first American
lady they have ever seen.
They are an exemplary
family, well posted in
the gospel, and enjoy a
most excellent spirit.
They hold their own
Sabbath School and Sac-
rament meeting every
Sunday. They live alone,
on a little farm which is
like an oasis in the des-
ert, for nothing can be
seen from there but the
dreary gum-fields in the Bay of Islands, in the northern part of New
Zealand. A wonderful lesson of contentment, joy and satisfaction
brought by the gospel to the faithful is exemplified by these people
in their lonely cottage. — O. D. R.
Elder William E. McFarlane, writing from Burlington, Ver-
mont, October 14, says: "Elders in the Vermont conference, left to
right: Joseph A. Anderson, Logan; Malcolm Walters, Tooele; Alvin
A. Wood, Clearfield, Utah; James S. Mason, Rigby, Idaho; Frank
B. Brown, Salt Lake City; John W. Dunn, Logan; bottom row: Mat-
thew Madsen, Willard; Joseph L. Brown, Grantsville, Utah; William
E. Rappleye, Cowley, Wyoming; Conference President William
McFarlane, Manti; George L. Hatch, Chihuahua, Mexico; William
D. Robertson, Park City, Utah. This conference was organized on
theh 24th of July, three years ago. Much good has been done here,
considering the prejudice owing to this being the birthplace of the
Prophet Joseph Smith. We are greatly pleased with the success that
has attended our labors this summer. We have distributed tracts in
EDITORS' TABLE
513
every county in the state, and prejudice of long-standing is slowly
dying out. We have enjoyed our country work very much. The
month of August was the best in the history of our conference. We
distributed 21 Books of Mormon, 793 small books, 9,769 tracts, 503
Liahonas; 5,526 families were visited, and 4 cottage and 40 open, air
meetings were held. The elders are now located in the small villages
and report good success."
Elder L. L. Graham, Gloucester, England, December 14: "When
the weather permits, we cycle out and tract the country villages. The
scattered farmers, as a rule, are much pleased because we visit them
at their isolated homes. They give us the
credit of doing more than most of their
own ministers will do, and this affords
us an opportunity to explain to them
the great interest which the Latter-day
Saints take in saving the souls of men.
We consider no effort too great to con-
vey the glorious truths that have been
revealed in these latter days. We are
succeeding in selling many of our books,
and in having some good gospel con-
versations. We enjoy our labors, not-
withstanding the insults we receive from
some who are very prejudiced. Yester-
day I handed a man a tract who was ap-
parently in good humor until he learned
I was a 'Mormon.' Then, with some
warmth, he accused me of belonging to
a bad set of people, and did not want to
listen to me, until I appealed to him to
exhibit his loyalty to the British motto, 'Fair Play.' He then changed
his nature, and tried to be a true Britain, giving me the privilege of
explaining the object of my being here. He promised to read the lit-
erature that I gave him, and stated he would never again judge the
r 4JK
514
IMPROVEMENT ERA
'Mormon' people as he had hitherto done. Elders, left, J. F. Palmer,
Preston, Idaho; right, L. L. Graham, Richfield, Utah."
Elders M. J. Steed and A. G. Brain of Salt Lake City write from
Gateshead, England, January 13: "Although persecution in this branch
of the Newcastle conference is prevalent, at the present time, our
cause is still progress-
ing. There are over
half a million people in
this district, and most of
the doors have been vis-
ited by the elders with
books and tracts. Of late
the persecution has been
so severe, and the feei-
ing so bitter, that we
have taken the Savior's
advice and gone to other
towns where we have
sold much literature and
borne our testimony, un-
trammeled to many. We have a branch here of fifty members, and
many are investigating the gospel. Although this is the youngest
branch in the conference, it is one of the leading ones. The Saints
are good tithe-payers and hard workers. We have a good Sunday
school and Mutual organization. Prof. McClellan of the Tabernacle
Choir, on his way to Germany, paid us a visit. We went to our meet-
inghouse and sang some hymns, Prof. McClellan accompanying us.
In group picture, left to right: Francis Simpson, M. J. Steed, E. S.
Wilcox, Prof. J. J. McClellan and his son Douglas, A. G. Brain, and
Joseph Parmley.
Elders D. Rolla Harris and J. C. Sid-
c'oway completed a sucessful trip
through the northern part of the Pitts-
burg, Pa., conference, on January 30, be-
ing gone about four weeks. They held a
number of meetings, distributed many
tracts and books and obtained a number
of subscribers for the Era. They report-
ed the conference in very good condition
and the Saints and elders are working
unitedly »for the spread of truth among
the good people who are anxious to hear
what they have to say. Elders, left to
right, J. C. Siddoway, Teton City, and
President D. Rolla Harris, Salem,
Idaho.
k%
EDITORS' TABLE
515
Elder Ernest A. Hoare writes from Sydney, Australia, November
29: "The elders shown in this cut have labored at Victoria, N. S. W.,
for some time. Their names are,
left to right: Back row — Ernest
A. Hoare, mission secretary;
John E. Gleave, Robert A. Hun-
ter. Front row — Sargent A.
Rice, conference president; Wil-
liam W. Taylor, L. L. Bunnell.
Elder Rice was recently honor-
ably released, and returned
home on the steamship Sonoma.
Elder Gleave, the late president
of the West Australia confer-
ence, was sustained president
instead of Elder Rice. Elder
Taylor was transferred to South
Melbourne, Victoria conference,
as presiding elder; and Elder
Bunnell was assigned to labor
in Richmond, Victoria. Elder
Hoare, who since January, 1912, has acted as mission secretary still
continues in that position. He is looking for a transfer to Queens-
land conference where he hopes to labor among his relatives. "Truth,"
a weekly publication of Sydney, commented as follows on the labors
of these elders:
" 'Six cute Yanks congregate on Friday nights in the main thor-
oughfares of the city, in the endeavor to propagate "Mormonism."
The meeting usually consists of a hymn or two, not too badly sung,
and then an elder sets forth a lengthy prayer in behalf of the breth-
ren and the bystanders. Following the petition a sermon is delivered
in defense of their creed.'
"Of late the newspapers have devoted much space to the consid-
eration of 'Mormonism,' many of the articles being far from appro-
priate to our noble cause. However, our elders have never suffered
severe persecution, the Australians generally allowing all men freedom
of worship."
Elder James Hansen, conference clerk of Aalborg, Denmark,
writes, October 12: "We have just held our semi-annual conference,
which was attended by President Martin Christonherson and twelve
elders who labor in this conference, also a number of elders visiting
from other places. The meetings were well attended. The large num-
ber of strangers who were present shows that people are interested
in our teachings. The elders expressed themselves in Priesthood
meeting as being much interested in the work and enjoying their
516
IMPROVEMENT ERA
labors. Elders, left to righti back row: Mikkel A. Mikkelsen, visit-
ing; Soren M. Sorensen, George S. Sanders, visiting; Adolph Peter-
son, Andrew E. Lauritzen; middle row: George Jensen, Lewis C.
Jacobsen, Andrew M. Jensen, James C. Bolander, Jens M. Jensen,
Joseph E. Jensen; front row: James Hansen, Conference President
Christian M. Jensen, Mission President Martin Christopherson, P. S.
Sorensen, visiting, Christian Dowsell."
Elder Joseph A. Anderson, Burlington,
Vermont, January 20: "We are re-tract-
ing this city and are successful in get-
ting into the homes of many honest peo-
ple to explain some of the truths of the
gospel. Some who had one time inter-
viewed us out of curiosity are now giving
us a fair investigation. Our cottage
meetings are well attended and some
good is resulting. Elders, left to right,
sitting: William McFarlane, Manti,
Utah; William A. Rappleye, Cowley,
Wyoming; standing, Joseph A. Ander-
son, Logan, Utah."
Priesthood Quorums'^ Table
High Priests in Granite Stake.— It appears from the 1912 annual
report of the High Priests Quorum of the Granite stake of Zion that
there are in that stake 429 High Priests, an increase of 43 over 1911.
Among them there are 31 stake officers; 63 bishops and counselors;
138 who are laboring in the Sunday School, the Mutual, and in other
ward work outside of the bishoprics; 112 who are 70 years and over;
11 patriarchs, and 20 who are disabled or infirm under 70 years. There
are only 79 who are not engaged in ward or Priesthood duties; 336 out
of the total number attend sacrament meetings, and 246 attended Mon-
day evening Priesthood meetings one or more times. There are five
members who are engaged in the general Church work outside of the
stake; namely, one apostle, one presiding bishop, two on the General
Sunday School board, and one on the Y. M. M. I. A. board.
Certificates of Membership. — The annual, circular of the Bishop's
Office, for 1913, contains the following instructions relating to mem-
bership:
"Certificates of membership should be presented with the least
possible delay. If for any sufficient reason members are not able to be
present when the certificates of membership are presented, they may still
be received by the vote of the congregation. Certificates of member-
ship presented to a ward should be retained for reference, and new
ones issued when members remove. In no instance should old cer-
tificates of membership be returned as a notice of removal to another
ward."
Where persons absolutely refuse to be identified in the ward and
do not desire to become identified with the Church the following in-
structir s of the annual circular should apply:
"If a recommend is received by a bishop for a person residing in
his ward who expressly desires not to be a member thereof, or of the
Church, and who requests that his name be stricken from the records,
such person should be summoned before the bishopric and if he still
feels that he does not desire to have a membership in the Church he
should be dealt with."
Priests Quorums. — One of the stakes report that it has organ-
ized, or appointed, a presidency of the Priests Quroums for the stake.
So far, we have not heard of a similar arrangement made in any other
stake of Zion. There is objection to forming one Priests quorum for
a stake, and that is that the Lord has placed the bishop as president of
the Priests Quorum and has required him to sit in council with them
518 IMPROVEMENT ERA
and teach them their duties. This could not be done with the quorum
in a stake capacity. The bishop of each ward should preside over the
Lesser Priesthood of the ward by virtue of his bishopric. If each
bishop of a ward will take personal charge of the Priests, there will
soon be enough to carry on the work in the ward, and the bishop will
find young men enough of suitable age and capacity to be Priests, to
form a quorum. We hope that each bishop will enter into the spirit
of this calling, and feel that it is his duty to teach the Priests their
duties, and to be his aids and assistants in the ward. This does not
preclude a committee of two or more members of the High Council
being appointed to look after the work of the Priests, and aid and
assist the bishops in this important duty and calling, where so desired.
The manner of receiving new members into the ward. — It has been
asked what the manner of receiving new members into a ward, and
what action should be taken where they neglect or refuse to be
present at the ward meeting, to be admitted to fellowship. It is, in-
deed, very desirable that the members of the Church should be present
when their certificates of membership are submitted to the Saints for
the purpose of their being admitted to fellowship in the ward. In
many wards the practice is being followed for the bishop or a merj3.be r
of the bishopric to call on those who have arrived in the ward, "wel-
come them, and make other inquiries. Certificates of membership are
then applied for, and later the ward teachers or Priests call upon them,
notify them of the arrival of the certificates of membership, and invite
them to be present at the next meeting. If the visitor finds that
through sickness, occupation, or other causes the family, or any mem-
ber of the family, cannot be present, he so reports. The bishop sub-
mits the names of the family to the Saints for fellowship, and, as a
rule, they are accepted as members of the ward. If persons show
indifference, they should be visited and labored with in kindness, by
the ward teachers. If necessary, special teachers may be appointed
to call upon such persons to impress upon them their responsibility as
Latter-day Saints, and to create a feeling that they will be welcome in
the ward. The mission of the Latter-day Saints is to save people;
that is the object and the purpose of the gospel, and of the organiza-
tion that we have. By visiting the wayward, the neglectful, and the
indifferent, we but carry out the teachings of Jesus in his remarkable
parable concerning the lost sheep. It is to be hoped that the bishops
everywhere will develop the missionary spirit, and that prominent
brethren, with the right kind of ability and tact, may be called to assist
them in laboring with the indifferent and the neglectful Latter-day
Saints. This is a subject that might well be taken up by High Coun-
cils and bishops.
"Ward Teaching" is the title of a helpful article by Bishop H. H.
Blood, that will appear in the April number of the Era.
Mutual Work
M. I. A. Mid-Season Conferences, 1913
To the Stake and Ward Officers, Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A.:
Dear Brethren and Sisters : — The stake superintendents and presi-
dents of the Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A. are instructed to make arrange-
ments for holding the annual mid-season conferences of their stakes
for our organizations, in conformity with the dates given below. Here-
tofore the dates have been set by the officers of the stakes; but a large
proportion of the stakes have neglected holding these conferences, so
the General Boards have decided that this year they would set the
dates.
DATES FOR THE M. I. A. ANNUAL CONFERENCE
February 9— Yellowstone, Wayne.
February 16 — Fremont, Rigby, Bear River.
February 23 — Snowflake, South Sanpete, North Weber, St. Johns,
North Davis, Emery, Liberty, Hyrum, Duchesne, Granite, Weber,
Parowan, Young.
March 2 — Pioneer, Panguitch, San Juan.
March 9 — St. George, San Luis, Big Horn, Blackfoot, Summit,
Millard, Bannock, Juab, Bingham, Carbon, Salt Lake, Nebo, Malad,
Uintah, Kanab.
March 16 — Oneida, Union, Benson, Cache, Star Valley, Teton,
South Davis, Tooele, Deseret, Ensign, Ogden.
March 23 — Box Elder, North Sanpete, Wasatch, Beaver, Jordan,
Alpine, Utah, Morgan, Woodruff, Cassia, Alberta, Pocatello.
March 30 — St. Joseph, Maricopa, Sevier, Moapa.
In case any of the dates are not satisfactory for any reason, the
stake superintendents will please notify the General Secretaries of the
General Boards immediately, and state the date desired for their con-
ference, after consultation with their stake presidency.
The stake officers are expected to conduct these conferences, and
not depend on representatives of the General Boards being present.
The stake secretaries are requested to send a report to the General
Secretaries of the proceedings of the conference and the general con-
dition of the work.
PURPOSE OF THE CONFERENCE.
The main purposes of these conferences are:
First— To check up the work of the associations in the stake to
date, enabling the stake officers to have a definite understanding of the
condition of the associations in their stake, with a view to suggesting
remedies for such organizations as may have fallen down in any line
of our work.
Second— To discuss and devise plans for an M. I. A. Day and for
the summer work of the associations.
520 IMPROVEMENT ERA
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRELIMINARY WORK
These circulars should be immediately distributed to the ward and
stake officers; and conjoint meetings of the stake boards should be
held to make arrangements for the details of the conference. Suitable
halls should be secured where both the young men and the young
ladies may be accommodated without interfering with the Sunday
School or ward meetings. It is very important that the president of
each organization should be present and ready to report, either ver-
bally or in writing, the work of his or her association, so far, in every
department.
MEETINGS
There should be three meetings held, — one of them jointly be-
tween the young men and the young ladies, at ten o'clock in the morn-
ing; one, separately, at two o'clock in the afternoon, and one general
public meeting in the evening.
PROGRAM
Conjoint Meeting, 10 a. m.
1. Presentation and discussion of program for stake M. I. A. day.
2. Suggestions for summer work.
3. Suggestive program for Sunday conjoint meeting.
4. A plan for the betterment of your open-night programs.
5. A better way of getting joint transportation for stake visiting.
Y. M. M. I. A. Meeting, 2 p. m.
I. — A letter should be sent out to every president of an association
immediately, requiring him to answer the following questions in writing:
1. How have you succeeded with the manual classes?
2. What have you done to obtain a larger enrollment and awaken
increased interest in the association?
3. How have you succeeded with your preliminary programs, and
of what have they consisted? (Enclose copy of one.)
4. How did you conduct your open night programs? (Enclose
copy of one.)
5. What are the number of Eras taken in your ward?
6. What have you collected on the Fund?
7. Have you a Committee on Vocations, and what have they done?
8. How many reading course books have you in your ward?
9. Name the drama, cantata or opera you have presented.
When these questions are sent in from the ward officers the stake
board should meet and discuss them, and as the first exercise of the
conference, the superintendent should give a summary of the answers
which should then be discussed by the officers present. Where any
ward has best succeeded in any line of activity, let the president of
that ward state in a very short talk how this has been accomplished.
Where any ward has fallen down, let the president state what he con-
siders to be the difficulty. Then let officers present who have a remedy
MUTUAL WORK 521
for the trouble be called upon to name it. In this way we believe much
good can be accomplished in awakening a renewed interest in the
activities of our organization. Please note that the board of the stake
should meet before the date of holding the conference to compile these
reports, discuss them, and be prepared to suggest remedies where
needed, and to give commendation where merited. At conclusion of
conference please mail these questions and answers to General Secre-
tary Moroni Snow, so that your findings may be placed on file and
made helpful to others.
II. — Plans for the Boy Scout work and athletic movement in this
stake for the summer of 1913.
Your committee on athletics and Boy Scouts should be advised to
prepare a plan for the summer work which should be presented to the
officers on this occasion, discussed, and adopted, as far as thought
profitable and advisable. See instructions in Era for March, 1912, and
January, 1913.
Y. L. M. I. A. Meeting, 2 />. m.
All members as well as officers should be invited.
A letter should be sent immediately to each Young Ladies' presi-
dent requesting her to answer the following questions in writing, send-
ing same to her stake president.
I. — Questions:
1. Do you prefer separate outlines for juniors and seniors? Why?
2. Do you continue during the summer?
3. Do you pay 100% dime fund?
4. Does the association subscribe for the Journal and have it
bound at end of year?
5. How many Journals are taken in your ward?
6. What is your enrollment?
7. How many of your members have access to the Journal?
8. What are you doing to increase your enrollment and attendance?
9. On what night do you hold meetings?
10. How many Young Ladies' socials have you held? How many
conjoint socials?
11. Have you the books of the reading course?
12. How do you interest your girls in these books?
13. How many successful testimony meetings have you held?
14. Do you use the stake traveling library?
15. Have the subjects, "Our Organization," and "Prophetic Coun-
sel," presented at our last convention, been presented in your ward?
Follow the same plan in regard to compiling and presenting the
answers to these questions as outlined for Y. M. M. I. A. officers above,
sending the questions and compiled answers to General Secretary Joan
M. Campbell, Room 34, Bishop's Building, Salt Lake City, Utah.
II.— Discuss the topic, "What Effect Has the Study of the Restor-
ation Of the Gospel Had Upon Your Life?"
522 IMPROVEMENT ERA
Conjoint Evening Meeting.
Everybody should be invited to attend this meeting.
1. Have at least one congregational song, and special musical ex-
ercises.
2. Address: "Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy."
3. Address: "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother."
IMPORTANCE OF THE CONFERENCE
We believe that this mid-season conference, if properly conducted
on the lines set forth above, will result in much good in awakening a
renewed interest in our organizations, and that where societies have
been neglectful an interest may be revived and work accomplished still
during this season. It will also aid in creating a renewed interest for
the summer work of our organizations, and help the officers to obtain
better results for the season coming. We ask that the general stake
officers of the organizations be up and doing in advertising this con-
ference properly and in presenting to the officers gathered such sug-
gestions and commendations as will give them renewed strength for
their work. To this end we pray that the Lord will give you influence
and bless you.
Yours truly,
Joseph F. Smith,
General Superintendent Y. M. M. I. A.
Martha H. Tingey,
President Y. L. M. T. A.
Stake Oratorical Contest
On February 3, the Utah Stake M. I. A. oratorical contest finally
closed, in the stake tabernacle at Provo, where a large and interested
audience heard the contest between the three successful district con-
testants of the stake. What we specially wish to call the attention of
the young men to is that in every district contest in that stake, though
many young men tried, the young ladies won. The contest between
the three young ladies resulted in giving the first place to Mrs. Sebrina
Reynolds, of Springville Third ward, who spoke on "Religious Free-
dom," and the second place to Miss Ola Sward of Provo Sixth ward,
whose subject was "God in Nature;" and the third place to Miss Louie
Farley, who spoke on "The Mormon Missionary's Mother." Mrs.
Reynolds, of Springville, Third ward, who spoke on "Religious Free-
ners of contests on the association trophy cup and in addition received
as a prize three volumes of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poems. Miss Sward
was presented with two volumes of James Whitcomb Riley's poems,
and Miss Farley with a copy of "Mother," by Katherine Norris. We
trust that in the next contest the boys will make, some showing. How
say you, brethren?
Passing Events
The Equal Suffrage Amendment Resolution was finally adopted by
the Nevada Legislature on January 30, and by Missouri, Feb. 20.
The Montana Legislature, on January 23, finally passed a woman
suffrage resolution; and in Minnesota the lower house, early in Feb-
ruary, decided to submit the question to the voters.
King Menelik of Abyssinia Died, about February 3, and Prince
Lidj Jeassu, one of his grandsons, entered the capitol as his successor.
The kingdom of Abyssinia has a population of about 8,000,000 with a
powerful army, and its political institutions are feudal in character.
Menelik became the supreme ruler in 1889, and has been reported dead
many times before. The new emperor is only seventeen years old,
and was elected some years ago by Menelik as his successor.
The Parcels Post System has been an eminent success in the
United States. Even if there should be no increase over the pack-
ages handled in January, approximately 40,000,000, about 500,000,000
parcels will be handled this year. Some postmasters estimate 1,000,-
000,000 packages. At the fifty largest postoffices, in January, 19,-
365,433 parcels were handled the first four weeks, the last two weeks
exceeding the first by 5,000,000 packages.
An attempt on the life of Lord and Lady Hardinge by a bomb-
thrower in Delhi, December 23 last, and the murder of a native official
January 14, at Bengal, has had the unexpected effect, it is reported, of
cementing Anglo-Indian solidarity. Representative public meetings
have been held to resent the outrage against the viceroy and to de-
nounce the crime. The people are said to be doing all they can to help
in the discovery of the criminals and to cry down the symptoms of
anarchy which have so suddenly invaded that country.
Job Smith, valiant member of the Church and veteran citizen of
Utah, died January 2, at Sugar. He was born in England, December
2, 1828, and joined the Church May 18, 1840, being confirmed by Brig-
ham Young, Willard Richards and Wilford Woodruff. He came to
America in 1843, and arrived in Nauvoo May 31, of that year. He was
ordained a Seventy and taught school there, and was quite familiar
with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He started for the west in 1846, and
arrived in Utah September 25, 1848. He later filled a mission to Eng-
land, returning home in 1854, leading a company across the plains. He
filled a short mission to California in 1877.
The Pioneer Trail Bill was presented to the Senate of the Utah
524 IMPROVEMENT ERA
Legislature early in February, by Senator BennerX. Smith. It provided
for making a state road of the trail and placing it under the control
and direction of the State Road comission, and appropriated $10,000 to-
wards surveying, marking and preparing the road for travel, to be ex-
pended under the direction of the commission. Later a committee
representing the M. I. A. Scouts appeared before the Senate Committee
on Highways and Lands and had a hearing upon the subject. In con-
nection with the presentation of the bill petitions from Salt Lake, San-
pete, Wasatch, Davis, Summit, Tooele and Beaver counties, aggre-
gating about 4,000 petitioners were presented to the Senate.
The Temple to be Built in Alberta will be located at Cardston, ac-
cording to a decision by the First Presidency and Council of Twelve,
Thursday, February 6th, and announced on the 14th. The site is on
a beautiful eminence in Cardston, in the heart of the city. The ele-
vations and prospective drawings of the temple appeared in the New
Year's News; the estimated cost of the building is $100,000, for which
amount it is believed that as beautiful an edifice as that of Manti, Utah,
may be erected. It is expected that the work will be completed within
a year, provided enough skilful workmen may be found to complete
the finishings.
Captain Robert Falcon Scott who, something over two years ago,
led an expedition from London to the South Pole, perished with four
of his men after he had reached the pole and while on his return jour-
ney, in a fearful snow blizzard. He reached the South Pole on Janu-
ary 18, 1912. After attaining the Pole they faced about to return,
and for two months struggled to get back to the "One Ton Depot,"
which they had established one hundred and fifty miles north of the
ultimate south, but one by one they perished on the way, the first on
February 17th, the second on March 17th, and Captain Scott, Lieu-
tenant Bowers and Dr. Wilson, from exposure and starvation during
the blizzard, about March 29th. The sad news reached London and
i # ,
the civilized world early in February, and detads of the penlous jour-
ney are being printed in all the newspapers.
The Balkan War. On January 22, the Turkish grand council de-
cided to accept the advice of the powers in their pointed note of the
17th, advising it to let the Balkan allies have Adrianople and the
Aegean Islands. The grand council decided to surrender Adrianople to
the allies on January 22nd, but their decision was so unpopular with
the young Turk party in Constantinople that Emer Bey, one of its
leaders, demanded the resignation of the ministry. Nazim Pasha, com-
mander-in-chief of the Turkish army, was killed in a riot which fol-
lowed. Shefket Pasha, who commanded the army in the successful
revolution of the young Turks, when Sultan Abdul Hamid was deposed,
was' made grand vizier and minister of war in the new cabinet. The
armistice was officially declared to be at an end, by the allies, on
PASSING EVENTS 525
January 30, and hostilities were again resumed. The Balkans and Ser-
vians attacked Adrianople and continued its bombardment. Conflict-
ing reports of the progress of the war reached the outside world, and
up to February 15th no specially decisive event had occurred. There
was a great destruction of lives and much suffering on both sides. All
the conflicting nations lack money, which Europe is loath to supply.
Internal quarrels among the Turks, have been a great source of
weakness to their cause. No one at present has any hopes that Turkey
will win out.
President Joseph F. Smith's Stand upon the matter of liquor traffic
was announced in a telegram from Washington, February 6. It appears
that officials of the Anti-Saloon League of America, who are advo-
cating the passage of bills pending in Congress to prohibit the ship-
ment of liquor into "dry" territory, inquired and received the following
telegram from President Smith relating to his stand on the subject:
"The Church of Latter-day Saints is positively and unalterably op-
posed to shipment of liquor into dry territory, and to all unlawful traf-
fic in intoxicants, and favors the entire suppression of all liquor traffic."
The reason the question had been asked of President Smith was
that it had been reported that the "Mormon" Church was using its
influence against the pending legislation.
Dunces Who May Blame Tobacco. — That over 90 per cent of all
boys who fail in the grammar and high schools are smokers, is asserted
by Prof. M. V. O'Shea of the University of Wisconsin, as quoted in the
Literary Digest from the University Press Bulletin (Madison, December
16). The tobacco evil, he declares, is the most serious one that the
public schools have to contend with. We read:
"Most boys do not learn to smoke because they like tobacco, but
because their schoolfellows smoke. It is a social thing with the boy.
By doing it he thinks he is one 'of the crowd' and not an 'outsider.'
Unruly boys are almost always addicted to the cigaret habit. Smoking
robs pupils of their docility. Records kept of the work of students who
were not addicted to the smoking habit when they entered the high
school, but who acquired it later show that not only did these pupils
become harder to manage, but the quality of their school work also
declined greatly. What a hold the smoking evil has gained on public
school boys is indicated by the statements made by a number of high-
school principals who declare that from 50 to 80 per cent of high
school pupils are now using cigarets. It is an interesting fact that the
strongest sentiment against smoking has arisen in communities in
which the raising of tobacco is the principal industry. Tobacco men
do not want young boys in their own communities to smoke, and in a
number of places in Wisconsin various organizations have taken a
stand against smoking by school children."
Amendments to the Constitution appear to be in order. On Feb-
ruary 1st the Senate passed the proposed amendment limiting presi-
cents of the United States to one term of six years, instead of a possi-
ble two terms of four years, as now. If this amendment shall become
526
IMPROVEMENT ERA
a law, which is very doubtful in our minds, it will mark a radical
change in our form of government. The chief arguments in favor of
the proposed change appears to be that it would extend the president's
opportunity to develop his policies and prevent him from devoting so
much time and energy to appointments that would aid in his re-elec-
tion. The commonest objection is that it would keep the people from
choosing, perhaps in a great emergency, what man might seem best
fitted to head the government. The resolution as passed by the Sen-
ate, with one vote only to spare over the necessary two-thirds, substi-
tutes for the first two sentences of section one, article two of the Con-
stitution, the following:
"The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United
States of America. The term of office of President shall be six years,
and no person who has held the office by election or discharged its
powers or duties, or acted as President under the Constitution and
laws made in pursuance thereof, shall be eligible to hold again the
office by election. The President and Vice-president chosen for the
same term shall be elected as follows:"
The principle embodied in the proposed amendment was a Demo-
cratic platform plank, but there is some question as to how it would
affect President Wilson — whether it would affect him at all, extend his
term for two years, or keep him from serving a second term. Ob-
viously, if this amendment should pass, it would exclude President
Taft and President Roosevelt from ever again holding office, for which
reason three Progressive senators voted against it. The House Judici-
ary committee later "indefinitely postponed the measure.
Jio^>
/ 7 \ ■ **** 1
/ c*fcor / \ l
L^^ J ffiiso^-y — ■*— -J
I -> tBBo I;u' /
? a ^Bfl / '■'■■■■■
Hw — t— t-
\ J ««tti /Btt. J
«ra Mont 1%, 7/^W 6
*;^fe
— -4. 1 s\ #\
The Present Status of Two Reforms is well shown in the above
drawings, the one to the left representing the progress of Prohibition.
The states in white have prohibition laws. Those in black have a
license law, with practically no dry territory; while those shaded have
license laws but contain much dry territory. Prohibition in West Vir-
ginia becomes effective in 1914. The drawing to the right gives a good
idea of the suffrage map of 1912. The equal suffrage states are shown
in white, those with partial woman suffrage are shaded, and those with
no suffrage are in black. As stated heretofore in the Era, Kansas,
Oregon, and Arizona gave votes to women at the last election.
PASSING EVENTS
527
France's New President, Monsieur Raymond Poincare, elec^d
January 17, to the presidency, took his seat on the 18th of February.
He has been engaged in politics for more than twenty-five years, and
entered the cabinet first in 1893. He became premier in January, 1912,
and has taken a leading part in the concert of the powers relating to
the Balkan trouble, working to confine the war to the small district
where it originated. Aristide Briand consented, on January 20, to suc-
ceed him as premier. The presidents of France since the war of 1870,
with Germany, are herewith presented. Upper row, left to right:
Thiers (1871-73), MacMahon (1873-79), Grevy (1879-87), Carnot (1887-
94), Casimir Perier (1894-95). Bottom row: Faure (1895-99), Loubet
(1899-1906), Fallieres' (1906-13), Poincare (1913).
The Income Tax Amendment to the Constituticn of our country,
being the sixteenth amendment to that sacred document, became law
on February 3, 1913, when it was approved by the Wyoming assembly,
the thirty-sixth legislature to take favorable action. The process of
ratification by the required three-fourth of the state legislatures
dragged along for nearly four years. The favorable votes of Delaware,
which state claimed that they were just ahead of Wyoming, Wyoming,
New Mexico and New Jersey, this year, made the amendment a law
with three states to spare. Utah is among the states that failed to
ratify. The amendment has had a very long struggle, but finally won
acceptance, agitation of the question having been going on for eighteen
years or more. It had to fight the vast influence of great wealth
throughout the nation. The amendment reads:
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on in-
comes from whatever sources derived without apportionment among
the several states and without regard to any census or enumeration."
Many still consider it a very objectionable form of tax, holding
528 IMPROVEMENT ERA
that it will tax the life out of thrift and industry, also that the govern-
ment will be largely supported by one class. Naturally there will be a
tax-paying and a tax-voting class, arising from the fact that a majority
of the people in a large part of the country will be exempt from any
personal concern with the levy while they will still vote in its expendi-
ture. While the terms of the new measure are not yet decided upon,
Congress will likely put a tax of one per cent on incomes of $5,000, and
this is expected to raise a revenue of $100,000,000. If the English rate
should be imposed, the new law would yield $400,000,000. Through this
law Congress will have a better opportunity to revise the tariff to a
revenue basis, and to place lower rates, or none at all, upon articles of
common necessity, which action is likely to be taken by the new ad-
ministration.
The Mexican Situation became very serious during February, and
occupied most of the space in the newspapers. Felix Diaz, a nephew
of ex-President Porfirio Diaz and formerly chief of police of Mexico
City, was one of the chief actors in the drama. On October 16th last,
Diaz took short possession of the city and port of Vera Cruz, but his
revolutionary movement collapsed on the 23rd of October, when he
was made a prisoner, and condemned to death; but his sentence was
suspended to imprisonment. He was released by mutinous cadets and
appeared on February 9th in the City of Mexico as a leader in the new
situation. Associated with Diaz was General Bernardo Reyes, former
war minister, also released from prison. General Reyes was killed in
the battle which followed. Machine guns swept the square before the
president's palace, the government's forces poured forth a murderous
fire from the tower of the cathedral, and the conflict continued with
unabated force until Sunday morning, February 16, when there was a
short armistice, but fighting was again resumed shortly before noon on
Sunday, and a large number of non-combatants were killed. Thou-
sands of foreigners have made their way out of the city and others
found temporary refuge in the American and other foreign legations.
Our government dispatched a part of the Atlantic battleship fleet to
Vera Cruz and armed cruisers were within easy reach of Mexico's
western ports. General Steever had 5,000 of the regular army on the
Mexican frontier, and both the army and the navy are ready for ser-
vice at a moment's notice, in case of the necessity of intervention.
^Military action on the part of the United States will not be taken
except as a last resort, since President Taft and Congress evidently
wish to avoid embarrassing the new administration with an international
imbroglio of military operations. On the 18th a new revolution suc-
ceeded in Mexico City. The federal General Huerta, aided by the mil-
itary leaders, treacherously overthrew President Madero, and made
him prisoner in the national palace, and it was expected Huerta would
be declared provisional president by the Mexican Congress. But the
end is not yet.
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SPRING 2UVD SUMMER GARMENTS
No. 99A — Fine weave, light weight,
bleached; for warm weather, per
pair, postpaid 70^
No. 51K— An excellent, close, fine
weave, bleached; suitable for
summer wear. Per pair, post-
paid $1.00
No. 59M — Made of mercerized cot-
ton, bleached; very desirable for
warm weather. Per pair, post-
paid $1.50
No. 52B— Medium light weight for
spring and summer, bleached.
Per pair $1.00
Postage 8c extra per pair;
2 pair 14c.
No. 57 — Medium light weight, un-
bleached, very serviceable. Per
pair $1.00
Postage 14c extra per pair;
2 pair 20c.
No. 901 — A well made, durable gar-
ment, medium heavy weave, un-
bleached. Per pair $1.25
Postage 14c extra per pair;
2 pair 20c.
No. 9B — Bleached, medium heavy
weave, will give excellent service.
Per pair $1.35
Postage 14c extra per pair;
2 pair 20c.
No. Ill — Heavy cotton weave, tuck
stitch, unbleached, fleeced. Per
pair $1.00
Postage 14c extra per pair;
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No. 11B — Unbleached, double back,
heavy _ $1.25
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"The Prince of Peace," found in this number, is a Christian classic that we
hope all the young people will read. Its treatment of the origin of man, the
resurrection, and faitli in Christ, as the Prince of Peace, is convincing.
Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator" is a subject well treated in this
number of the Era, and. with the articles on the same topic in the last number,
forms a sufficient answer to the- arguments of Rev. Spalding, though there are
many points yet to he added.
Our subscribers get 64 pages extra in the February and March Era, in
order to give them the arguments on "Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator," and
at the same time give them the usual splendid variety of other matter. There
are still extra back numbers. Order today and get the whole volume for $2.
The February and March numbers, 20c each. A few extra on hand.
Improvement Era, March, 1913
Two Dollars per Annum with Manual Free
Entered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second class matter.
Joseph F. Smith, ) Heber J. Grant, Business Manager
Edward H. Anderson, [ Editors Moroni Snow, Assistant
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Easter. A Poem Alfred Lambourne 404
The Prince of Peace William Jennings Bryan . . 405
A Hymn of Action. A Poem John Hay 420
Under the Sea Level in Holland. Illustrated. . W. F. Thompson 421
Two Worshipers. A Poem Minnie Iverson 425
Little Problems of Married Life — XVIII William George Jordan... 426
Purity. A Poem M. A. Stewart • • 431
/* Little Lesson. A Poem Lcn J. Haddock 432
The Tired Mother. A Poem Harper's 432
The Recall of Judges Dr. Joseph M. Tanner. . . . 433
"Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator"
A Critical Examination of the Fac-Similes
in the Book of Abraham Robert C. Webb, Ph.D.. . . 435
Comments on the Spalding Pamphlet John A.Widtsoe,A.M.,Ph.D. 454
Scientists Not Always Correct Judge Richard W. Young. 460
By Unmapped Paths. A Story Josephine Spencer 467
Only a Miner. A Poem M. A. Stewart 480
The Significance of Belief William J. Snow 481
Voice of the Intangible — VIII Albert R. Lyman 486
Tribute to Orson P. Arnold. With Portrait... Gecrge C. Lambert.. 491
The Gospel to the Lamanites Rey L. Pratt 497
Department of Vocations and Industries B. H. Roberts 504
Editors' Table — The Resurrection — Card Play-
ing Prest. Joseph F. Smith. . . 50S
Messages from the Missions .'. . 512
Priesthood Quorums' Table — High Priests in
Granite Stake — Priests' Quorums — The Man-
ner of Receiving New Members into the
Ward 517
Mutual Work— M. I. A. Mid-Season Confer-
ences— Stake Oratorical Contest 519
Events of the Month 523
BEMIKGTON AUTOLOADING SHOTGUN— ONE OF BROWNING'S PATENTS
DON'T WAIT TILL NEXT SEASON
TO HAVE THAT GUN REPAIRED
SEND IT TO US NOW and HAVE IT READY FOR NEXT SEASON
Send Postal for our Catalogue, 150 Pages, Illustrated. FREE
BROWNING BROS. CO., S?2SN
THE NEW MODEL FIVE
L. G. Smith & Bros. Typewriter
Has all the successful features of earlier models with new
ones added It anticipates the demands of owners and
operators and is an example of the highest refinement of
mechanical skill.
The ball bearings at all cardinal points, the inbuilt
attachments, the keyboard ribbon control, lightning es-
capement, rigid carriage, are some of the reasons why this
machine produces neat, accurate copy with the least
amount of effort.
L C. SMITH & BROS. TYPEWRITER CO.
Head Office for Foreign and Domestic Business,
Syracuse, N. Y., U. S. A.
SALT LAKE OFFICE, 379 South Main St.,
Salt Lake City
CALIFORNIA :"
PLAN YOUR WINTER OUTING NOW
$40 EgS,NPD $40
TO
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Stop Oven
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Routes
Tickets and
Reservations
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SALT LAKE CITY
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Train
Service
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Excellent
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Principles
i
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By These each oper-
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pledges his faith
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Diamonds that are Gems
are bought at
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If you want an Engagement, Wedding or
Birthday Gift, come to us. We
will save you money.
Watch and Jewelry Repairing a specialty
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Establiehed 1875
Joseph Smith as Scientist ml* 75c
History of Joseph Smith %>™%R
Cloth - $1.00 Morocco - $2.50
SKND ORDERS TO
IMPROVEMENT ERA
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PROTECT!!
Your dependent ones and yourself with a policy in the
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A HOME COMPANY
Joseph F. Smith, President Lorenzo N. Stohl, Vice-Pres. and General Mgr.
N. G. Stringham, Secretary
Lead all companies in Utah in amount of New Insurance
written during past three years
HOME OFFICE, VERMONT BUILDING
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Save All Your Cream
The Dairymaid Cream Harvester is the
biggest money maker— gets more cream
than any other. It's also made to wear.
Before buying a Separator, be sure to
see the Dairymaid.
Consolidated Wagon & Machine Co.
Utah, Idaho; Wyoming and Nevada, GEO. T. OOELL, Gen'l Mgr.
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